Last Semester I took Gay/Lesbian Literature at Columbia College. In class we read poetry, short stories, and novels by different authors, such as Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like That by Achy Obejas, and Interesting Monsters by Aldo Alvarez.
How excited was I to find out in January that author Aldo Alvarez was coming to my Gay/Lesbian Literature Class to talk about himself and his book Interesting Monsters? Lucky for me I got to interview him and find out even a bit more about him.
Alvarez was born and raised in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Storytelling runs in his family.
'My Maternal grandmother used to tell fairy tales from memory,' Alvarez said. 'My immediate family is, for the most part, a family of readers, so I grew up reading and telling stories. I'm not an oral story teller, though I'm more of a page than a stage person, but there are a couple stories of mine that I can read well when I am invited to do a reading.'
Alvarez has a B.A. in Communication Arts from Xavier University in Cincinnati. He went on to earn a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Columbia University in New York City and a Ph.D. in English with a creative dissertation from Binghamton University (SUNY).
'Getting a Ph.D. was like going into exile and not returning to the world at large until, by mere dint of focused scholarship and creative labor, I had produced something that showed I deserved a doctorate in my field of Choice,' he said.
For his Masters Degree, Aldo took three classes per semester plus two summer classes over the course of two and a half years.
'Only two of those courses were Creative Writing Workshops, but some of my English and Comparative Literature professors allowed me to submit fiction instead of research papers at the end of the semester,' Alvarez said. 'I also took three doctoral exams on areas of study of my own choosing, Interesting Monsters, by the way, was my dissertation project at Binghamton. My department allowed me to write a suite of short stories on queer themes for my degree. I also taught creative writing and literature courses even though my fellowship did not require me to teach; I need the experience.
'I wrote Interesting Monsters because a guy I was dating back in the early '90s, soon after I'd come out, asked me why I didn't write short stories with gay characters. At the time, I wanted to keep my identity as a writer separate from my identity as a gay guy. OK, well, I was still sort of closet-y and I said I didn't write gay characters because I didn't think writing gay characters were interesting. I told him I would think about it.
'Currently I am working on a suite of short stories on Latino themes, Five Fables of Confresi The Pirate. One of my latest stories is seeing the print in the eighth issue of Bridge Magazine, out late in Spring '04. Bridge is one of my favorite literary magazines, published here in Chicago, and I'm really pleased that they are featuring my story.'
Alvarez was a Visiting Writer at Indiana University in Bloomington in 2000-2001; he also taught creative writing as a graduate instructor in Binghamton. Now he teaches Composition at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago. Check out Blithe House Quarterly, a site for gay fiction (www.blithe.com), The site was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Alvarez is the executive editor and he manages the editorial process of the magazine.
