In Andrew Altschul’s new book The Gringa, he creates a fictional story around real–life events and explores how these events affect a person’s life. His inspiration came from the story of Lori Berenson, who was convicted of treason in Lima, Peru, in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison. Over the years, there was constant media coverage, and many spoke up for and against Berenson. Her parole in 2010 sparked public anger and led to death threats to her and her son.
Like many others, the story fascinated Altschul, who was living in Peru during the late 1990s. As a young American, he found himself fascinated by the story and what would cause someone to affiliate with a militant splinter group that broke away from the Communist Party of Peru. Paired with his interest for how individuals’ actions are distorted, it created a base from which Altschul, now an associate professor and director of creative writing in the Department of English at Colorado State University, wrote his third novel.
The novel took seven years to complete, as he explored the national trauma that the war had brought to a country he loved. This book felt like a way to give back to Peru and dive deeper into what truly happened.
Altschul has written two other novels, Deus Ex Machina and Lady Lazarus, both of which challenge and dissect something that often creates problematic situations. In this third novel, he challenges the reader to contemplate how things we do and how what we say can easily be distorted.
Altschul spends a lot of time with graduate students wanting to write their own novel. His advice is to never write a novel because you feel you need to. He shares his experience with his students and encourages them to create their own unique way of storytelling. Besides spending his time writing, teaching is something he enjoys very much. “It gives me energy,” he explained.
With a project always in the works, there will be more novels coming from Altschul.
The Gringa will be published March 10 and available for purchase at the CSU Bookstore. There will also be a public reading on April 15 at 6 p.m. at Old Firehouse Books on 232 Walnut St. in Old Town.
