By Tara White
AMIGOS Staff
Three-time AMIGOS veteran Coert Voorhees recently sat down with AMIGOS to talk about the release of his first novel The Brothers Torres.
The novel, published by Hyperion, is told from the perspective of high school sophomore Frankie Towers who lives in a small town in New Mexico. Frankie has his mind on girls, cars and other social pressures of high school, but when his older brother—a popular varsity soccer star—gets involved with the local cholos, Frankie begins to get sucked into a series of violent confrontations and has to make a decision about which path he wants to follow.
Coert grew up near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and this influenced the setting of the novel.
“I hope the book captures some of what it’s like to be a New Mexican and grow up in a place where the population is such a large blend of Hispanic, Anglo, and Native American,” Voorhees said. “Food plays a large role in the book, which is a big part of New Mexico’s identity.”
AMIGOS Experience
Coert first participated as an AMIGOS Volunteer in Mexico in 1991 through the correspondent volunteer program. He was taking a Russian-language class and, by chance, an AMIGOS representative presented to his class.
“I called my parents at lunch and basically told them I was going to do AMIGOS,” Coert recalled.
Coert returned to AMIGOS on Project Staff in 1992 and 1994, serving in Ecuador both years. However, he most fondly remembers his first summer with AMIGOS.
“I lived with the town mayor and we stayed up many nights having conversations and playing chess. It was a real learning process for both of us,” he said. “I was also given permission to play soccer with the town team, which was an amazing cultural exchange experience.”
After Coert’s first summer, his family also became involved with AMIGOS. His sister, Emily, was a Volunteer in 1994 and served on Project Staff in 1995 and 1996.
“My sister was a Volunteer in Ecuador in 1994 and I remember being able to meet up with her during mid-term when I was on staff. That was fantastic,” Coert said. “Almost surreal.”
His parents, Dayton and Sara, played a major part in establishing the Albuquerque Chapter and Dayton served as the Medical Director for many years.
A Passion for Latin America
AMIGOS helped Coert solidify his already strong Spanish skills, and he went on to major in theatre and Spanish at Middlebury College in Vermont.
During college, Coert became interested in the work of absurdist Chilean playwright, Jorge Díaz.
He translated one of Díaz’ famous plays “El Cepillo de Dientes,” and directed it for his capstone project at Middlebury.
Coert also spent a semester abroad in Chile during college where he partook in a theatre internship. He also worked diligently to meet Díaz.
“He was a very private person, and I asked everyone if they had any idea where I could find him. One person told me he was a hermit, and another person told me he lived in Spain,” Coert said. “Three months into it I was despondent; I had all but given up finding him.”
A few weeks later, Coert was visiting the home of Pablo Neruda where he spotted a flier advertising a speaking engagement Jorge Díaz was scheduled to do the next night.
“It was a performance more than a speech. It was staged, and he was playing himself. There was an ‘interrogator’ asking him questions,” Coert said. “I waited around until after the performance to tell him about my admiration for his work and about the translations I had been doing.”
Díaz was interested in Coert’s work and he gave him his home phone number. They met once a week for the remainder of Coert’s time in Chile.
Following that semester, Díaz recommended Coert for a Fulbright Scholarship, and he was awarded the prestigious grant.
Over the course of more than a year in Santiago, Coert translated seven of Díaz’ plays and several poems. He has tried to get the work published in English but his efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
“Diaz is read by almost every high school student in Chile. His work is well known, but very little of it has been translated to English,” Coert said.
The project ended with the production of “El Cepillo de Dientes” in Chile. Coert organized a multi-lingual crew to produce the play in English for the Spanish-speaking audience. The English-speaking actors flew in from the United States and much of the crew only spoke Spanish.
A Career in Writing
After his Fulbright project ended, Coert moved to Los Angeles and started writing screenplays.
“It was fun, but I felt a little like I was pretending. There are so many people there who are working as ‘writers,’” Coert explained, that I had a difficult time taking myself seriously.”
When his wife got a job in Northern California, he didn’t hesitate to move. He was ready for a change, and he began writing fiction while teaching middle school and high school. He taught everything from seventh grade Spanish to high school film and English.
Meanwhile, Coert focused more of his attention on writing. He attended several conferences and workshops, and submitted his work to agents, finally connecting with one who was interested in his work.
Soon after, he signed a deal to publish The Brothers Torres. The novel has received positive reviews, and Coert is hopeful that the book will be read in high school classrooms.
“High school teachers and librarians have told me that there’s a need for contemporary young adult novels—meaning not fantasy or sci-fi, for example—that that are written from a male character’s perspective,” Coert said.
Coert plans to pursue a full-time writing career and he said much of his success is owed to Jorge Díaz, who recently passed away.
“He was very grandfatherly toward me,” Coert said. “One day we were talking about one of my translations and he asked me, point blank, if I was happy translating his words instead of writing my own. I had never even considered the possibility.”
Coert currently lives in Houston where he is pursing an MFA in fiction at The University of Houston. He is married and has a son.
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