Carmen Aguirre’s first book won CBC’s 2012 Canada Reads Award. Drawing from her own experiences as a Chilean exile and activist, Something Fierce is political but highly personal. Since graduating from Theatre Arts, Studio 58 Carmen has written or co-written twenty plays including In a Land Called I Don’t Remember, Chile Con Carne, The Trigger and The Refugee Hotel.
As an actor, Carmen has thirty film and TV credits. Her lead role in the independent feature film, Quinceañera, won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. She has also been a recipient of the Playwrights’ Theatre Centre Best New Play Award.
Carmen created The Latino Theatre Group and has been playwright in residence at a number of theatres across Canada. She has also worked as a theatre director, acting teacher and a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop facilitator, working with communities around British Columbia.