With the aim of promoting art and culture, the coordinator of the “Cartatura NY Foundation”, Francisco Fuentes González, announces the presentation of the book of writer Rhina Mercedes, who as a remarkable Salvadoran immigrant in the United States tells us about her experiences and perceptions in her longing for homeland.
“In my heart a volcano” is the title that carries the recent book by author Rhina Mercedes. In the roots of her children’s memoirs, she gives us with a diaphanous prose fragments of her personal history and that of her family environment.
It immerses us in that magical world where the strong look of Uncle Meregildo slept the scorpions and tamed how much animal grassed, while grandmother rose, with eternal feeling of guilt warned that there was an eye chasing them all day: “The eye of God”, an imaginary where good and evil were in constant fight guard accused of breaking the photo of El Pope.
The writer Rhina Mercedes Ramos was born in El Salvador on December 14, 1968 and left her country at the age of 14, in 1983. Her journey to the US marked her story because she experienced what thousands of Hispanic immigrants suffer in the north road.
It should be noted that Rhina Mercedes was received as a lawyer in 1995 from the University of Hofstra. And in New York, in 2003, he obtained a master’s degree in theology at Pacific School of Religion.
Immediately, when we enter his work, we feel an instant connection with our roots where many of us will feel identified with the rules, customs and traditions of our grandparents, uncles and older people.
Rhina Mercedes describes in his book in a colloquial way and even picaresca those values and beliefs of our ancestors, where before going out, it was necessary to pray several times the “Our Father.”
The Long Island and New York community is invited to enjoy this wonderful literary work and interact with Rhina Mercedes so that we all have “in my heart a volcano.”
The places and dates of presentation of his new book are:
– Friday, August 1, 2025, 6:00 pm:
In Labor Rights Center,
Located in 91 N. Franklin Street, Suite 305, in Hepstead, NY 11550.
– Saturday, August 2, 2025, 5:30 pm:
In African American Museum of Nassau County,
Located in 110 N. Franklin St., in Hempstead NY 11550.
– Sunday, August 3, 2025, 1:00 pm onwards:
In Ascension Lutheran Church,
Located in 33 Bay Shore RD, in Deer Park, NY 11729.
