“Crossing Borders: What It Means in the Life of a Child” a panel featuring author Reyna Grande in discussion of her memoir, “The Distance Between Us”

Opening day panel of the CSWS Northwest Women Writers Symposium, with keynote author Reyna Grande

This panel will focus on the memoir The Distance Between Us, featuring Reyna Grande reading sections from her work, with comments by community educators and University of Oregon faculty and alumni.

In her memoir The Distance Between Us (Atria Books, 2012), Grande writes about her life before and after her undocumented border crossing as a young child from Mexico to the United States. A National Book Circle Critics Award finalist, this book was hailed by Los Angeles Times reviewer Hector Tobar as “the Angela’s Ashes of the modern Mexican immigrant experience.”

Panelists include:

• Reyna Grande: featured presenter
• Moderator: Lynn Stephen, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon and co-director of the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies (CLLAS).
• Gustavo Balderas, Superintendent, Eugene School District 4J
• Lidiana Soto, UO graduate and recent Migrant Education Program worker
• Carmen X Urbina, Program Development and Outreach Coordinator, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership Program, UO College of Education; Administrator on Special Assignment, Eugene School District 4J
• Kristin Yarris, a migration scholar and Assistant Professor in the UO Department of International Studies

This panel will be followed by a brief reception. Additional events before and after.