Margot Pepper-Through the Wall-Freedom Voices

Margot Pepper's memoir propels us through the blockade to post-cold war Cuba. It's a surreal world where high-ranking officials are required to pick up hitch-hikers. Root canals, cosmetic surgery and graduate school are free, but toilet paper is exorbitant. There's no income tax nor homelessness, yet no house-paint either. As the story unfolds, Margot pursues a passionate love affair with a penniless Mexican poet who shakes up her views about Cuba. With cinematic vividness, Through the Wall reveals the failures and successes of one of the few functioning alternatives to corporate-run government, and draws out lessons that will be embraced by all who believe another world is possible.

ISBN: 0-915117-17-7 $19.95 Order info

About the Author
Born in Mexico City, Margot Pepper's fiction, poetry, translations and articles have appeared in the Utne Reader, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, publications by City Lights, Poetry Flash, El Andar, Canada's The Scoop, France's Le Courrier, Hampton Brown's A Chorus of Cultures, as well as in her first book, At This Very Moment. Her most recent article in the popular City Lights-Freedom Voices anthology, September 11 and the U.S. War, Beyond the Curtain of Smoke, examines the current U.S. climate within the geopolitical framework that emerged after World War II and gave rise to McCarthyism. A graduate of San Francisco State's M.F.A. program in creative writing, she has worked as both a Spanish immersion teacher and poet with California Poets in the Schools for a decade. Her spoken word performances include Yerba Buena Gardens, the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Book Festival, Intersection for the Arts, Barnes & Noble and the National Library of Havana. Pepper has been a featured writer on KPFA's Flashpoints and the Morning Show. She has just completed a curriculum guide for teachers, (Poetry is Using Your Senses) and a collection of short stories of magic realism and science fiction: Everyone, Everyone Can Win!

Critical Praise for Through the Wall and Margot Pepper

"From her unique vantage point as a journalist working for a year in Special Period Cuba, Margot Pepper has written a smart and politically sophisticated memoir. Interweaving her past as the Mexico City-born daughter of a blacklisted Hollywood producer with the travails of her daily life in Cuba and the larger context of Cuban society in general, her work is imbued with her own political analysis and convictions and captures the feelings as well as the heartbeat of struggling Cuba during such a crucial time. Bravo, Margot Pepper, for writing such an honest and important work. ¡Punto!"

"Margot Pepper's memoir reveals a side of Cuba that most U.S. readers have never seen. Yet it's also about the transformation of individuals, relationships, and societies, and the enlightenment that can sometimes follow those transformations. Through the Wall is far more than a book about Cuba."

"An unusually talented and perceptive young writer with a natural gift for expressing herself."

"Margot Pepper's writing is compelling, able to capture the voice and tenor of those who often do not have a voice in literature, conveying resonant stories for all of us."


					Press Resources Press Release \| Readings \| Reviews To schedule appearances or interviews please contact: Juliana Mojica, 415-731-2345 or juliana@mojicaarts.com Cover Images: 72 dpi 5 x 8.5 cover image jpeg (288k) 150 dpi 5.5 x 8.5 cover image jpeg (1 mb) 300 dpi 5.5 x 8.5 cover image jpeg (large file may not open or download in some browsers) For images in other formats or resolutions please contact graphics@freedomvoices.org Cover design: Ben Clarke
[ Books \| Order \| TREC \| Prose & Poetry \| Photos ]
		Through the Wall: A Year in Havana By Margot Pepper	Critical Praise for Through the Wall
	Margot Pepper's memoir propels us through the blockade to post-cold war Cuba. It's a surreal world where high-ranking officials are required to pick up hitch-hikers. Root canals, cosmetic surgery and graduate school are free, but toilet paper is exorbitant. There's no income tax nor homelessness, yet no house-paint either. As the story unfolds, Margot pursues a passionate love affair with a penniless Mexican poet who shakes up her views about Cuba. With cinematic vividness, Through the Wall reveals the failures and successes of one of the few functioning alternatives to corporate-run government, and draws out lessons that will be embraced by all who believe another world is possible. ISBN: 0-915117-17-7 $19.95 Order info About the Author Born in Mexico City, Margot Pepper's fiction, poetry, translations and articles have appeared in the Utne Reader, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, publications by City Lights, Poetry Flash, El Andar, Canada's The Scoop, France's Le Courrier, Hampton Brown's A Chorus of Cultures, as well as in her first book, At This Very Moment. Her most recent article in the popular City Lights-Freedom Voices anthology, September 11 and the U.S. War, Beyond the Curtain of Smoke, examines the current U.S. climate within the geopolitical framework that emerged after World War II and gave rise to McCarthyism. A graduate of San Francisco State's M.F.A. program in creative writing, she has worked as both a Spanish immersion teacher and poet with California Poets in the Schools for a decade. Her spoken word performances include Yerba Buena Gardens, the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Book Festival, Intersection for the Arts, Barnes & Noble and the National Library of Havana. Pepper has been a featured writer on KPFA's Flashpoints and the Morning Show. She has just completed a curriculum guide for teachers, (Poetry is Using Your Senses) and a collection of short stories of magic realism and science fiction: Everyone, Everyone Can Win! *Critical Praise for Through the Wall* and Margot Pepper** "From her unique vantage point as a journalist working for a year in Special Period Cuba, Margot Pepper has written a smart and politically sophisticated memoir. Interweaving her past as the Mexico City-born daughter of a blacklisted Hollywood producer with the travails of her daily life in Cuba and the larger context of Cuban society in general, her work is imbued with her own political analysis and convictions and captures the feelings as well as the heartbeat of struggling Cuba during such a crucial time. Bravo, Margot Pepper, for writing such an honest and important work. ¡Punto!" --Piri Thomas, author of Down These Mean Streets "Margot Pepper's memoir reveals a side of Cuba that most U.S. readers have never seen. Yet it's also about the transformation of individuals, relationships, and societies, and the enlightenment that can sometimes follow those transformations. Through the Wall is far more than a book about Cuba." --Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange "An unusually talented and perceptive young writer with a natural gift for expressing herself." --Ring Lardner Jr., Hollywood Ten author of screenplay MASH. "Margot Pepper's writing is compelling, able to capture the voice and tenor of those who often do not have a voice in literature, conveying resonant stories for all of us." --Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running. "Through the Wall* is a truly significant book. More than a significant book!" --Gerard Colby, president of the National Writer's Union.
				Publicity Photos: Photograph of Margot Pepper 72 dpi jpeg (60k) Photograph of Margot Pepper 150 dpi jpeg (536k) Photograph of Margot Pepper 300 dpi jpeg Large file! For images in other formats or resolutions please contact graphics@freedomvoices.org Photo credit: Scott Braley