Magali García Ramis’ Felices días Tío Sergio [Happy Days, Uncle Sergio] is 25 years old this month. The author shared with El Nuevo Día fond memories about the neighborhood around Villamil Street in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and the personal trajectory that led her to write this novel, one of her most emblematic texts. [This is exciting news for me, because my students and I just finished discussing this timeless novel, which fueled very animated conversations!] Since its birth in 1986, Felices días has been read around the world in fifteen editions, including translations in English and German, having sold around 120 thousand copies.

Twenty-five years later, García Ramis will be honored at the forthcoming 2011 Festival of the Word, for her professional trajectory and of course, for her bildungsroman [“novela de crecimiento,” in Spanish] Felices días tío Sergio. The author is pleased to have been invited to deliver the keynote lecture, “The Certainty of Happy Days,” in which she will review the island’s transition from 50s to the 60s.

Meanwhile, Uncle Sergio’s birthday will be celebrated on Friday, March 25, starting at 6:00pm, at the Hermanas Rivera Cash & Carry, located on San Sebastián Street in Old San Juan. [Bring your novel.]

For the author’s fascinating account of how the book was born (in Spanish), see http://www.elnuevodia.com/¡felizcumpleanostiosergio!-913829.html