Get your own signed copy of Women Surrounded by Water. Each book is hand-signed and customized with the name you provide at checkout. It includes shipping within the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography
Patricia Coral interviewed in Southern Review of Books
Read an excerpt of Women Surrounded by Water in Electric Literature
Listen to Patricia Coral read from Women Surrounded by Water in Poets & Writers
Patricia Coral reads from Women Surrounded by Water in Debutiful
Watch Patricia Coral’s book talk and reading at Politics and Prose
“Poetic, intelligent, formally and culturally hybrid, and emotionally powerful, Women Surrounded by Water offers an important meditation on gender, family, imperialism, and natural disasters, amplified by factors like anthropogenic climate change and official indifference. It also introduces into the creative nonfiction genre an eloquent, sensitive, and talented new voice.” —Glen Retief, River Teeth
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Patricia Coral was surrounded by women who fought for their needs amid the demands of domesticity and who were dismissed and judged when they rejected any predetermined paths on an island that itself has never been free. At age twenty-five, she married her first love, a green-eyed musician whose internal storms drove Coral to slowly realize that the marriage must end. Faced with disillusionment—with her husband, with the patriarchal expectations that surrounded her like the Caribbean Sea, and with the limited options available to her—she leaves, only for Hurricane Maria to wrench her heart homeward.
Coral evokes the beauty, love, and language of her family and of Puerto Rico as well as the pain of yearning for more. Tastes, colors, and the dreamlike lushness of childhood memories infuse this mournful and propulsive memoir of personal and natural disasters—and the self-discovery made possible only when we choose what to leave behind.
This creative circle is a supportive space to discover and recover your creative self.
You might be a writer, artist or maker looking to deepen your practice and create new work. You might be feeling creatively stuck, or perhaps you once had a creative practice and want to reconnect with it. Or you might not identify as a writer, artist, or maker but feel curious about creative self-discovery. This creative circle is for anyone who wants to deepen their connection to their creativity, clear creative blocks, nourish their artistic selves, and invite more inspiration into their work and lives.
Over 13 weeks we’ll nurture our creativity through writing, reflection, and creative experimentation. Inspired by The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, this creative circle will meet weekly for 90 minutes of guided exploration, conversation, and practice. No experience is necessary. Just bring a willingness to explore, a copy of The Artist’s Way, and a journal.
DATES: Thursdays, April 16 - July 16, 2026*
TIME: 7:30pm -9:00pm EST
LOCATION: ZOOM
REGISTRATION: $320
*The 13 weeks include an introductory session. Detailed schedule will be provided, along with alternative options if a participant needs to miss a session.
Payment plans and scholarships are available. If cost is a barrier, please reach out to info@patriciacoral.com. If you’d like to help make this circle accessible to others, please get in touch as well.
About The Artist’s Way
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a 12 week journey for discovering and reconnecting with our creativity. The book has been used for decades by writers, artists, and others who want to return to a creative practice or approach their work with more creativity, openness and curiosity. The program offers a series of reflections, small creative experiments, and practices that help participants notice and work through the habits, challenges, and fears that often get in the way of creating.
About the Facilitator
Patricia Coral is the author of the memoir Women Surrounded by Water, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography. She holds a BA in Hispanic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico, an MA in Spanish from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico, and an MFA in Creative Writing from American University, where she received the Myra Sklarew Award and where she was Editor-in-Chief of FOLIO Literary Journal. Patricia writes creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, but frequently her words find their home in-between. The former director of events for Politics and Prose Bookstore, she has contributed to numerous literary magazines and her work has been supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.