Ashes of Izalco

Trade Paper – $14.50

ISBN 978-0-915306-84-8

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Contributors

Claribel Alegría (Author)

Darwin Flakoll (Translator)

Publication Date

July 1995

Ashes of Izalco

Claribel Alegría and Darwin J. Flakoll

Written in two voices, Ashes of Izalco is a collaborative novel by Claribel Alegría and Darwin Flakoll, a love story set against the events of 1932, when thirty thousand Indians and peasants were massacred in Izalco, El Salvador. Ashes of Izalco brings together a Salvadoran woman and an American man who struggle over issues of love, loyalty, and sociopolitical injustice.

About the Author

Claribel Alegría was a Salvadoran-Nicaraguan poet, essayist, novelist, and journalist who was a major voice in the literature of contemporary Central America. She was called "one of the region's finest writers" by The Washington Post. Alegría published over forty books, including fifteen collections of poetry, and was a recipient of the Casa de las Americas Prize of Cuba. Her works in English include Ashes of Izalco, Luisa in Realityland, and Family Album. She was awarded the 2006 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. She died in 2018.

In 1947 Alegría married the U.S.-born journalist Darwin J. ("Bud") Flakoll; they had three daughters and one son. Flakoll coauthored some of her novels and translated much of her work into English. He died in 1995. Alegría's Sorrow, a collection of love poems, was written for her deceased husband.

Reviews

"One of the most important Central American novels of the 20th Century."

—Carolyn Forché

"A haunting short novel that sets a story of love and passion against feverish peasant uprising..."

—Kansas City Star

"In a novel that blends politics, history and romance with unfailing gentleness, unforeseeable, explosive events determine the actions of the characters but never interrupt the work's lyrical structure."

—Publishers Weekly