November 2012 Conversations with Las Comadres: Teleconference Series
The Distance Between Us, A Memoir — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Length: 00:59:23 | Size: 10.69 MB
November 2012 Book of the Month
The Distance Between Us, A Memoir
By Reyna Grande
Published by Atria, A Division of Simon & Schuster
ISBN-13: 978-1451661774
From an award-winning novelist and sought-after public speaker, an eye-opening memoir about life before and after illegally emigrating from Mexico to the United States.
After publishing two acclaimed and award-winning novels about the Mexican immigrant experience and the families forced to navigate its twists and turns, celebrated author Reyna Grande reveals her own troubled and triumphant story as an illegal immigrant in the heartfelt memoir The Distance Between Us.
Born in Mexico and raised by her grandparents after her parents left to find work in the U.S., at nine years old, Reyna enters the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant to live with her father. Filled with hope, she quickly realizes that life in America is far from perfect. Her father isn’t the man she dreamed about all those years in Mexico. His big dreams for his children are what gets them across the border, but his alcoholism and rage undermine all his hard work and good intentions. Reyna finds solace from a violent home in books and writing, inspired by the Latina voices she reads. After an explosive altercation, Reyna breaks away, going on to become the first person in her family to obtain a higher education, earning a college degree and then an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
At a time when immigration politics are at a boiling point in America, Reyna Grande is an important public voice for Mexican Americans and immigrants of every origin. The Distance Between Us has the power to change minds and hearts.
About the Author: Reyna Grande
Born in Mexico, Grande was two years old when her father left for the U.S. to find work. Her mother followed her father north two years later, leaving Grande and her siblings behind in Mexico. In 1985, when she was going on ten, she entered the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. She went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college.
Grande holds a B.A. in creative writing and film & video from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Antioch University. She is an active promoter of Latino literature and has worked as a program coordinator for festivals such as the 2009 and 2010 Latino Book & Family Festival. She has also served as a judge for literary awards such as Pen USA Literary Awards and the El Premio Aztlán. She teaches creative writing workshops in her community and speaks at high schools, colleges, and universities across the nation.
Grande is also a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop, founded by renowned author Sandra Cisneros.
Month1 2012 Additional Conversation
Choke
By Diana Lopez
Published by Signet Eclipse/Penguin
A heartfelt novel about the disturbing “choking game” trend—and one girl’s struggle for self-acceptance. If she could—if her parents would let her—eighth-grader Windy would change everything about herself. She’d get highlights in her hair, a new wardrobe; she’d wear makeup. But nothing ever changes. The mean girls at school are still mean, and Windy’s best friend Elena is still more interested in making up words than talking about boys. And then one day, Windy gets the change she’s been looking for. New girl Nina — impossibly cool, confident, and not afraid of anyone—starts hanging out with Windy! Nina even wants to be “breath sisters.” Windy isn’t sure what that means, exactly, but she knows she wants to find out. It sounds even better than a BFF. Windy is right, at first. Being a breath sister gains her a whole new set of friends, girls she feels closer to and cooler with than anyone else. But her inclusion in the new crowd comes at a dangerous price. Windy wants to change everything about her life. . . but is she really willing to give up everything in the process?
About the Author: Diana Lopez
Diana Lopez is a native of Corpus Christi. She is the author of the novel Sofia’s Saints published by Bilingual Review Press (2002) and of Confetti Girl, a novel for young adults, published by Little Brown (2009). Confetti Girl was selected as a featured title for Scholastic Book Fairs and as a Commended Title for the Américas Book Award, which is sponsored by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs.
López is also the recipient of writing fellowships from the Texas Commission for the Arts and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. Her short fiction has appeared in Sycamore Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, New Texas, The San Antonio Current, and Texas Monthly.
López received her BA in English from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and an MFA in creative writing from Texas State University. An avid educator, she has taught for the San Antonio Independent School District, St. Philip’s College, and for non-profit organizations such as Gemini Ink and the Writers’ League of Texas.
Month1 2012 Additional Conversation
Cruzar El Limite/Border Town #1: Crossing the Line
By Author Malin Alegria
Published by Scholastic Press
ISBN-13: 978-0545402408
In Dos Rios, Texas, life is all about borders—and what happens when you cross the line.
Nothing is simple in a border town like Dos Rios, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Even for high school students Fabiola Garza and her younger sister Alexis, whose parents run a local Tex-Mex restaurant, Dos Rios is full of borders—where you should go, who your friends should be, which boy you should date.
Dos Rios is also full of opportunities, but it’s a town divided, between the haves and the have-nots, the Whites and the Mexicans-Americans, the Texans and the Mexicans, the legal and illegal. But through it all, the Garza sisters have each other. Water can be crossed, but blood is the ultimate borderline—no matter what.
About the Author: Author Malin Alegria
Malín Alegria was raised in San Francisco’s Mission District. She’s a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and received her MA in Education. She is a teacher, permaculture consultant, Aztec dancer, and performer. She has performed and wrote with Teatro Nopal & the WILL Collective.
Malin is a member of SCBWI and TNAFA. Estrella’s Quinceñera was published by Simon & Schuster in 2006. Her second novel, Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico, was released May 2007. Her short stories have appeared in the anthologies, Once Upon a Cuento, and 15 Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles, and other Quinceañera Stories. Malin currently lives in San Jose, California where she teaches,writes, and is hard at work playing in dirt.