2022
Power of Kindness, Resilience & Hope
A Dream Called Home
Reyna Grande
Audience:
Adult
As an immigrant in an unfamiliar country, with an indifferent mother and abusive father, Reyna had few resources at her disposal. Taking refuge in words, Reyna’s love of reading and writing propels her to rise above until she achieves the impossible and is accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz. Although her acceptance is a triumph, the actual experience of American college life is intimidating and unfamiliar for someone like Reyna, who is now estranged from her family and support system. Again, she finds solace in words, holding fast to her vision of becoming a writer, only to discover she knows nothing about what it takes to make a career out of a dream.
About the Author
Reyna Grande is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. Her critically acclaimed memoir, The Distance Between Us, was a National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist. In that book, Reyna writes about her life before and after coming to the U.S as an undocumented child immigrant. It is about what is lost and what is gained in the pursuit of a better life. The Common Reading book selection at colleges and universities across the nation, in September 2016, The Distance Between Us was republished for young readers ages 10-14. In addition to A Dream Called Home, her other books include Across A Hundred Mountains (Atria 2006), Dancing with Butterflies (2009), and two forthcoming titles: A Ballad of Love and Glory (March 2022) and Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings (June 2022). She has been a recipient of several awards, including an American Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature, and more recently, a Latino Spirit Award. Born in Mexico in 1975, Grande was raised by her grandparents after her parents left her behind while they worked in the U.S. She came to the U.S. at the age of nine as an undocumented immigrant and went on to become the first person in her family to obtain a higher education. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and Film and Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She is a sought-after speaker at middle/high schools, colleges, and universities across the nation, and teaches creative writing workshops. She lives in Woodland, California, with her husband and two children.
