I, Teresa de Lucena: Reflections on the Trial of a Conversa tells the story of this complex chapter in Spanish history through an intimate lens: the Inquisition trial testimony of a woman who lived through it. Born into a distinguished converso family in Toledo in 1467, Teresa de Lucena was seventeen when she faced the Inquisition for the first time. Forty-five years later, she spent eighteen months in an Inquisition jail and after a lengthy trial, was convicted of heresy. Saved by her wits, she survived.
How do you make this complicated story accessible and beautiful? Ellen and Annie will discuss how they built the book: why Teresa’s story is translated in her own voice and how they wove together Teresa’s testimony with Ellen’s commentary and Annie’s illustrations to evoke the time and place of Teresa’s life in early modern Spain.
