Pat Alderete

Surviving the Literary Life, Tuesday, May 2 at 7:30pm, Altadena Library

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Pat Alderete writes about the beauty and brutality of varrio life, rendering the complex inner worlds and strict social hierarchies of a community seldom observed in literature.  Her short stories are published in Joteria and PEN Center Journal, and have been anthologized in Hers 2 and 3; Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Latino Arts Anthology 1988-2000; A Geography of Rage; Afro-Hispanic Review; and Love West Hollywood.  She has written two one-act plays, Ghost and the Spirit and Love and Fire.  Pat was an inaugural member of PEN Emerging Voices.  She is also a member of Macondo, a writers homeland founded by author Sandra Cisneros. Alderete is a member of Writers At Work, led by Terry Wolverton. Alderete is currently working on her memoir about Chicana life in East L.A.