West Philadelphia

Quiara was born in a neighborhood of Philadelphia known as West Philadelphia. Quiara’s neighborhood was highly racially diverse. For a few years, Quiara and her parents then lived in the predominantly white suburb of Malvern. After the relationship between Quiara’s parents ended, Quiara and her mother moved back to West Philadelphia, where most of Virginia’s family members also lived. Quiara felt a deep connection with her family members, and their personal stories inspired many of her works as a writer.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico was the birthplace of Quiara’s mother and maternal grandmother. When Virginia was a child living in Puerto Rico, she seemed to sometimes have visions that she and the community interpreted as being psychic in nature. Obdulia and Virginia eventually immigrated to the United States in the 1950s, when Virginia was still a child. Despite the fact that Quiara...