Grad Receives Grant to Finish Book About Bolivian Culture

Alumna Luisa Murillo wrote a poetry collection titled “Collita Love.” | Photo by Dhana Whiteing.

Luisa Murillo, a 2013 graduate of the University of Rhode Island’s English department, has recently received the $25,000 MacColl Johnson Fellowship to finish writing a poetry collection written to promote Bolivian culture and experiences.

Her book, “Collita Love,” is a poetry book split into three sections to bring awareness about the issues in Bolivia, as well as the challenges immigrants face moving to different places.

“‘Collita Love,’ in its developing form, is divided into three sections that as a collection advocate for social justice, create a magical realism space and document personal experiences,” Murillo said.

The first part of the poetry book includes social justice poems which describe and inform of stories of domestic violence in Bolivia, which Murillo said is a really important issue to bring awareness to. She currently serves as the director of social programs of Progreso Latino, a Rhode Island organization whose mission is “to help Rhode Island’s Latino and immigrant communities to achieve greater self-sufficiency and socio-economic progress by providing transformational programs that support personal growth and social change.”

Murillo said that during her time working for the organization, which concentrates on immigration policy, health care policy, social services, domestic violence, advocacy initiatives, youth programs and community research projects, she has had a lot of experiences that have inspired and affected her writing.

“The MacColl Johnson Fellowship will afford the opportunity to share my experiences and those of my parents as immigrants,” Murillo said. “In particular at a time when we have so much suffering amongst immigrants in our country.”

The second part of Murillo’s poetry book is made up of “magical realism” poems in which she relates and brings in aspects of her Bolivian culture, language, history and geography. The last part includes poems about her experiences as an immigrant child learning English, as well as experiencing racism and grief.

The book will also include languages other than English as a representation of Murillo’s past and what she has learned since coming to the United States.

“I am in love with Quechua as an ancestral language of the Andes where I was born,” Murillo said. “My poems are like a tricolor aguayu [a Bolivian woven carrying cloth] weaving three languages to immerse the reader. There will also be a trilingual glossary to offer the translation of words in Quechua and Spanish. My style of writing strives to convey the beauty of Quechua and promote an appreciation of Bolivian culture.”

Murillo is excited to be able to continue to work on and publish “Collita Love,” with help from the fellowship.

“The day that I was notified about the MacColl Johnson Fellowship, I was at Progreso Latino’s staff Christmas party,” Murillo said. “I silently thanked God and my abuela Consta, my maternal grandmother, for I know that she is always watching over me. I was also grateful for the generosity of the MacColl Johnson family for providing this blessing for writers.”

This year the MacColl Johnson Fellowship was awarded to three women of color. Murillo said that she is glad to be one of them and hopes that it will inspire others around her to follow their dreams as well. “The selection of three women of color as MacColl Johnson fellows this year will inspire future generations of writers of color,” Murillo said. “For children to see writers of color publish and pursue such a noble dream makes it even more possible for them to believe in the dream of being a writer.”