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Reyna Grande to Visit SCU on May 2

Renowned memoirist to speak with students on immigration, writing

On Thursday, May 2, 2019 from 5-6 p.m. in Sobrato Commons, the Santa Clara Review will host a reading, question and answer session, and book signing with award-winning memoirist and novelist, Reyna Grande, for the spring installment of their Writing Forward Reading Series. Grande’s work most notably includes her bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, and its sequel, A Dream Called Home, which both share aspects of her life as an undocumented child immigrant who entered this country by illegally crossing the border.

After growing up in poverty in Iguala, Guerrero, located in southwestern Mexico, and being left behind when both of her parents travelled to the United States in search of work, Grande found her own way into the U.S. at the age of nine. Although she had high hopes for an American life, Grande soon discovered the realistic challenges that accompany life as an undocumented young woman. She struggled with adjusting to American culture and consistently felt like an outsider, while navigating a strained relationship with her father and the lasting emotional scars of being left in Mexico as a child. Fortunately, as she aged, Grande found solace in her passion for reading and writing, which ultimately became the driving force behind her becoming the first person in her family to attend college, earning a B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University.

“She is a very skilled writer who employs a wonderfully simple style while conveying incredible thoughts and feelings,” says Dr. Kirk Glaser, senior lecturer in the English Department and faculty advisor to the Santa Clara Review. “She is a powerful example of someone who found a dream and stuck with it against all odds.”

Co-sponsored by the Santa Clara Review and the Department of English Creative Writing Program, Grande’s event will engage students in critical dialogue about diversity, inclusion, and how to live a writer’s life, and, according to Dr. Glaser, “put a human face on immigration. In doing so, [Grande] is a voice speaking for millions of voiceless people."