{"id":3082,"date":"2021-09-20T10:53:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T14:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2021-09-20T10:53:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T14:53:53","slug":"celebrating-national-hispanic-heritage-month-with-mimi-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2021\/09\/20\/celebrating-national-hispanic-heritage-month-with-mimi-milan\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with Mimi Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, so now is an especially fitting time to celebrate the work of Mimi Milan, one of Charlotte\u2019s leading Latina authors.\u00a0 Mimi grew up in Charlotte after having moved to the city as a child.\u00a0 She graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016 with a degree in English.\u00a0 During her undergraduate days, she took courses in creative writing, literature, and film. She then went on to earn an MFA in creative writing from Queens University.\u00a0 Since I was the chair of UNC Charlotte\u2019s English Department at the time that Mimi was pursuing her BA degree, I am particularly proud that she has gone on to make such a success of herself after her graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mimi has published a wide variety of works, including poetry, romance novels, westerns, fantasies, and paranormal fiction.  However, in almost all of her work, she draws on her Latino background and her familiarity with Mexico and other places in Latin America. In fact, several of her books are available in Spanish.  For more information about Mimi and her publications, place click on the following link:  https:\/\/www.mimimilan.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently contacted Mimi and asked her about her experiences as a Charlotte writer.  Here is what she sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I moved to the Charlotte area back in the days when it was still a little uncomfortable for some folks to see people like me. That is, a Latina with mixed family roots. It was way back in the eighties, but I still remember the first interaction I had with “the local yokels.” A little blonde-headed girl rode her bike up to our yard and asked, “Are you allowed to play with white people?” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mimi’s parents<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was an odd question for someone claiming stomping grounds from Caldwell, New Jersey, to the Bronx, born with a parent on each end of the color spectrum. It was also a little confusing for a child who was raised to eat arroz con gandules and pollo guisado, while watching shows like <\/em>Good Times and dancing to songs by Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. So in typical ten-year-old fashion, I relied on my parents for the right answer. I still laugh when I think of the response I was to deliver. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tell her we said, ‘Yeah… as long as they’re not dead.'” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s an odd answer, tinged with sarcasm and a tiny bit of morbidity. However, it’s also sharp dialogue. That’s what I aim for with all of my writing. I’ve written everything from historical romance (<\/em>The Dancing Lady) to westerns (<\/em>Dueling the Desperado and <\/em>Where the Snowy Owl Sleeps), suspense stories, a paranormal that made the USA Today bestseller list last year, and even poetry published in various literary journals (such as <\/em>Sanskrit and the <\/em>Blue Mountain Review). Regardless of what I write, I always strive to create stories and characters that resonate with the people of my past–words that will keep both them and our culture alive forever. That’s how I would describe my latest project that is currently being shopped around. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A satirical romp about the end of the world, the rapture is set off when some important pop culture is stolen and Jesus (very much resembling the stereotypical Gen-Xer) is tasked with deciding who is to be saved when all he really wants is a long overdue vacation. However, the novel is more than a stab at pearl clutching political policies. It is also a roman \u00e0 clef, as much of my own life and the people I have known are disguised within it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Mimi\u2019s forthcoming fantasy novel titled Born of Fire & Magic,<\/em> the central character, Idalia Sanchez, has to undo a magical curse that is threatening the world.  In order to deal with this crisis, she must learn about her unique family heritage. By embracing her roots, she is able to gain the power she needs to make a difference.  In a sense, Mimi\u2019s story is similar to Idalia\u2019s story.  Mimi\u2019s power as a writer comes in part from the fact that she has drawn on her Latino heritage.  By embracing her roots, Mimi has succeeded in making many unique and compelling contributions to the diverse library that is Storied Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, so now is an especially fitting time to celebrate the work of Mimi Milan, one of Charlotte\u2019s leading Latina authors.\u00a0 Mimi grew up in Charlotte after having moved to the city as a child.\u00a0 She graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016 with a degree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[216,212,217,215,214,213],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-fantasy-novel","tag-historical-romance","tag-latina-authors","tag-paranormal","tag-suspense-stories","tag-western-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3091,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions\/3091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}