Best known for writing the book behind the beloved ‘In the Heights’ musical, Quiara Alegría Hudes is a Pulitzer prize winning playwright, lyricist and essayist. In her new memoir, ‘My Broken Language’, she examines Latina girlhood and womanhood and honors her and her family’s story.
Born in Philadelphia to a Jewish father a Puerto Rican mother, Hudes originally trained as a composer and went on to earn a degree in musical composition from Yale University. She then studied playwriting at Brown University, and often writes “at the intersection of music and drama.” In 2012, she won the Pulitzer prize for Drama for her play, ‘Water by the Spoonful’. Her new memoir, ‘My Broken Language’ came out earlier this month. It’s the first time that Hudes’ work is not composed of fictional characters with figments of the women in her life, but actually shares her and her family’s life story. “This is the first time I’m dropping the pretense of fiction. Writing this book felt like a homecoming, because books mattered so much to me in my own spiritual and intellectual awakening,” she said in an interview with NBC.
In the memoir, Hudes explores her identity as the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Jewish father. “I had to take off so much armor to sit and write this book and express, what does it mean to be half-white, what does it mean to be half-brown?” she said. “What does it mean to be ashamed of my body? What’s the implication if we’re not ashamed of our bodies? What does it mean if I went to Yale and my older cousin is illiterate?” she added.
While the book celebrates Latino values and the contribution of immigrants to their host countries, it also explores the vilification of her community and intergenerational trauma within her family. Hudes explained that she was driven to write the memoir to humanize a community vilified in the 80s and 90s by national leaders who “set up an entire system to destroy the lives of anyone involved in or near drugs and put a terrible moral stamp on people who needed assistance.” She spoke of her own experience and that of other members of her family: “My experience was quite different and reflected something that was much more beautiful and wise and lively and that reflected values that I thought this nation could learn and benefit from,” she said. “That said, it was important to acknowledge that there was tremendous suffering and tremendous struggle in my family, ranging from illiteracy to AIDS. We inherited traumas around them, and we haven’t healed from all those traumas. … The inheritances are very rich, and they’re very deep, and they’re beautiful, and they matter.”
Hudes additionally explores the topics of language and reciprocity among Hispanic and immigrant communities, describing how speaking English, Spanish, and Spanglish “is to know too much and too little about language and be three times as good — and not good enough — at following the backward trail of family stories.” She describes Puerto Rican values as those of “cariño, respeto y honor [care, respect and honor],” while pointing out that such are values the nation has struggled with for the past year and could learn and benefit from. “I’m not telling a story about a migrant family that comes from the farm and Arecibo (a city in Puerto Rico) to here to simply receive enlightenment from the United States. I’m telling a story of a migrant family that has arrived here and has enlightenment to offer the United States, and I think that two-way street is very important,” she explained.
As for what is next for the Latina playwright, she is working on the much-anticipated film adaptation of ‘In the Heights’ and does not rule out writing another book. She has also teamed up with Puerto Rican playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda again for a new animated movie, ‘Vivo’, coming to Netflix soon.
Book Cover: Penguin Random House/One World