Sister Dianna Ortiz

Sister Dianna Ortiz died on Friday at the age of 62. Sister Ortiz was a US-born Catholic nun teaching indigenous children in Guatemala’s western highlands when she was abducted, tortured, and gang-raped by a Guatemala security force in 1989. From her obituary in the NY Times: “[Sister Ortiz] went on to become a global champion for people subjected to torture, and her case would help compel the release of classified documents showing decades of U.S. complicity in human rights abuses in Guatemala during its 36-year civil war, in which 200,000 civilians were killed.” The details of Sister Ortiz’s story are horrifying. Her memoir, The Blindfold’s Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth, is haunting. May her brave soul in peace. New York Times article is here. Image from Washington Post.

On Instagram

I’m not on Instagram (although I know I should be), and a friend forwarded me this review of my novel, Mother Mother. As a writer and as a person, it feels great to be “understood,” when someone else grasps our intention. Get Lit Book Club does. From the review: In “Mother Mother,” Jessica O’Dwyer explores international adoption, looking at how racism, privilege, and judgement are structurally inherent. With O’Dwyer’s personal journey of adopting from Guatemala, I expected something a little sappy, something a little white savior-y, but was pleasantly surprised… What I liked the most was that I learned a ton about the Guatemalan civil war, which I had never heard of before. It’s being released on October 1st, check it out! —Get Lit Book Club, @getlitbookclub Mother Mother is available now on Amazon, Indie Bound, Book Shop, and Barnes and Noble. xoxo