Gloria Macher is a Peruvian-Canadian writer living in Montreal. Her work explores social, political, ecological and existential themes. She is considered a main proponent of the contemporary humanistic literary scene.

Early life and education

Macher was born in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, Peru and lived in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, during her childhood and teenage years. She moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, in 1976 and spent four years in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, California before making Montreal her permanent residence. Macher graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

and in 1982, she received a Master of Science in Economic and Social Development from the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. From 1990 and 1993, she followed courses in Medical Anthropology at McGill University and in 2009, she received a Translation Diploma at the Linguistics Department of McGill University.García González, Francisco (2014
"Entrevista con Gloria Macher"
La Cultural de Montreal, Montreal, Canada.Retrieved 2017-11-14.

Career

During her years working in the research field for the Ministry of Health and Social Services in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Macher was the author of three publications on the organization of the health and social service sector for the region of Temiscamingue that lead to the restructuring of the health sector in Quebec during the 1980s. She has also participated as co-author and research coordinator in several public health, child adoption, and mental health projects. After launching her localization and specialized translation firm in 2009, Macher devoted herself to

fiction writing Fiction writing is the composition of non-factual prose texts. Fictional writing often is produced as a story meant to entertain or convey an author's point of view. The result of this may be a short story, novel, novella, screenplay, or drama, ...

. Her novel ''Las Arterias de Don Fernando'' has been awarded The International Latino Book Award 2014" by Latin Literacy Now in the United States. ''Flor de Araribá'' has been shortlisted for the Verbum Iberoamerican Award 2017 (Finalista del Premio Iberoamericano Verbum de Novela 2017) in Spain. "Protocolo 48" has been shortlisted for the IV Exemplary Novel International Award 2018 granted by the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. She has presented her novels in Europe and the Americas and her short stories and poetry appeared in several anthologies and electronic publications in Canada and Latin-America.

Influence

Her main earliest influence, as a teenager, while living in Brazil, was Charles Dicken's

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

. The social, economic, political and humanistic content was a revelation for Macher and incite her to write at 13 years of age and eventually will also guide her choice of a professional career in economic development. After discovering

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, she continued nurturing her taste for social issues with Europeans authors like

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...

, and

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

and later on with Latin American authors like Cesar Vallejo, José Maria Arguedas, and those of the Magic Realism generation. While a teenager Macher also acquired a taste for books dealing with human psychological existence and gender issues, such as

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

Jorge Amado Jorge Leal Amado de Faria (10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

and others. Reading was a way of reconciling her sense of loss of having been uprooted at the age of 12 from her birthplace, Lima, Peru.

Work

Poetry

* ''Desplazamientos '' ()

Novels

* ''Protocolo 48'' () * ''Flor de Araribá'' () * ''Viajando por Precipicios'' ()
* ''La Gringa del Parque'' () * ''Mi Reina'' () * ''Las Arterias de don Fernando'' ()

Some of the anthologies and virtual publications

* "Flor de Miel" (2017) * "El Maletín" (2016) * "La Bella adormecida" y "Bitches Brew" (2016) * "El Capoeirista" (2016) * "Todas en Una" (2015)
* "La Sin Nombre" (2014)Macher, Gloria

"Letras de dos ciudades", Jornada Boreal V de escritores hispanocanadienses: Ottawa y Montreal, Qantati eBooks, 2014, Retrieved 2017-11-14.

Awards

* The International Latino Book Award (2014) * Finalist for the "Verbum Iberoamerican Novel Award (2017) * Finalist for the "IV Exemplary Novel International Award 2018" granted by the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macher, Gloria Living people Peruvian emigrants to Canada Canadian women novelists McGill University alumni Université de Montréal alumni Writers from Lima 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers Year of birth missing (living people)