What sparked your idea for your novel? 

I’ve spent forty-five years as a foreigner based in the Caribbean, and it seemed to me that this was a subject that had not been treated up till now. There are many fine novels by Caribbeans about the islands, but novels by foreigners tend to feature tourists with the Caribbean as a backdrop, not the long-range involvement of an expatriate in the lives of islanders. Though it stands fully on its own, Midnight at Sea is the second volume in The Caribbean trilogy, which Kirkus called “an endlessly immersive and at times awe-inspiring middle volume of a postmodern epic.” 

What made you interested in storytelling? 

This came naturally to me, since I grew up in a family where novel reading was pervasive. From boyhood on, I read so many novels that eventually I wanted to try my hand at the art. Written over a span of 27 years, The Caribbean trilogy depicts an eccentric cast of characters in a lush tropical setting. Each novel carries [the characters’] stories forward with a different emphasis. Sailing to Noon develops the parallels between a passionate love affair and primal nature, Midnight at Sea focuses on painting and music, and Return to Dawn presents social and political violence on a three-tiered stage. 

What was your editing process? 

Previous to writing novels, I translated and edited books. In order to avoid writing a thinly veiled autobiography, I invented a metafictional character named Artemisia Vento, a female Sicilian travel writer who has lived in the Caribbean for decades. In the prefaces and epilogues to each book, I explain how she requested me to edit a trove of notes she’d compiled over the years. Editing my notes as though they were somebody else’s enabled me to look at them more objectively, and to concentrate each novel around certain themes. 

How did you develop your characters? 

Unsurprisingly, the main character of Artemisia’s notes is a Sicilian travel journalist named Chiara. Despite her globe-trotting, Chiara marvels at Canuba, where “magic realism is everyday life.” Her friends borrow traits from many Caribbeans I’ve known directly, but none portrays a single model, or is exempt from fictional additives. The predominant characters include the hyper-erotic cellist Lamia, the devious politician Ángel María, the streetwise weightlifter Amado, the sardonic housekeeper Luz Divina, the three avant-garde Miranda brothers, the mysterious mambo Diana, and the “failed saint” Gustavo. 

How did you develop your subject? 

A Kirkus reviewer has remarked that in these books, “Canuba becomes a character in and of itself.” The island is an amalgam of the Hispanic Caribbean. The storytelling in The Caribbean trilogy is divided among 10 highly different narrators. They’re all evoking the same places, and sometimes, the same events, but their perspectives convey radically distinct visions. Setting a record, each of the three books has won the Independent Press Award for Hispanic/Latin Fiction. I warmly invite readers to join us in exploring this self-contained world. 

Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity.