04 June 2009

to tell stories

in my list, i said that i was excited to meet eduardo galeano.
i was.
now i'm excited to have met him. he was such a calm and sincere man.
galeano only came by for a few minutes to sign his books, we weren't even hosting his event.
but for five to ten minutes, i had the pleasure of standing next to him, feeding him books that he slowly and intently signed while he spoke little pieces of beauty.



...if the name eduardo galeano sounds familiar, but you can't pinpoint it, here is a hint. he has recently been largely recognized in the u.s. because hugo chavez gave obama galeano's book open veins. but chavez wasn't uncovering a mystery; galeano is a writer from uruguay who has been well known for his mark on latin american literature in parts of the united states and most certainly in latin america for years...

he told me that he didn't have any schooling.
"the cafes are my school,
the home of the anonymous story teller.
from them i learned how to tell stories."

you can see the democracy now! interview with galeano at pulse media and enjoy his insight and pace in the way that i did.

here is a beautiful quote from this interview:
"i don't want to teach anyone about anything, i just want to tell stories. that's all"

his newest book is mirrors: stories of almost everyone.

1 comment:

  1. sounds like a wonderful experience! I love "I just want to tell stories. that's all."

    ReplyDelete

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