Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. In her collection of poetry, EXILIANA, Mariela Griffor expresses her innermost thoughts in words of not her mother tongue in rich, beautiful, passionate verse unlike any other documentary or memoir produced that reflects upon the devastation, loss and casualties--both mortally and emotionally--of civil unrest. Griffor's first loss was her fiance. Her second loss was after her and her unborn child's quick and subsequent flight out of Chile to escape the threat of her own arrest. As a 24-year-old woman, she took haven in Sweden, a land of cold and endless nights, where she was left to ponder the "what-ifs" of an abruptly aborted romance, the welfare of her family and friends, the fate of her FPMR compatriots, and the land of mountains and eucalyptus she had always known as home. Even in the privileged and exclusive community of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., which she now calls home, Griffor's heart and soul remains in exile.

Author City: Grosse Pointe Park, MI USA

Mariela Griffor grew up in Santiago, Chile. Her childhood in the quiet home of her grandparents came to an abrupt halt when Augusto Pinochet and his fascist regime's coup d'etat overthrew the democratic government of Salvador Allende in 1973. Always devoted to poetry, which has sustained her through two decades of turmoil, Mariela is currently living with her husband and two young daughters in Grosse Point, Michigan, where, among other writing and publishing activities, she recently established the not-for-profit Marick Press, specializing in publishing poetry. Her first poetry collection, Exiliana, was published this year (Luna Press).