Every year, the Maryland Humanities Council chooses a book which we are all encouraged to read, and to discuss at events that the Council organizes around the state. It’s kind of like a state-wide book club. This year, they’ve chosen a memoir by Reyna Grande. She joins Tom in the studio.
Her novels have won an American Book Award, the El PremioAztlán Literary Award, the International Latino Book Award, and in 2012, she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her memoir tells the story of her childhood in a poor Mexican village and the difficulties she and her siblings endured as her fractured family forged a new life in the United States. Her story is heartbreaking at times, and it offers a trenchant insight into the immigrant experience, and the experience of families everywhere as they try to heal the wounds caused by the problems of divorce, abuse and dislocation. The book is called The Distance Between Us, which has been chosen as this year’s One Maryland, One Book selection.
Tonight, Ms. Grande will be at the Carroll County Arts Center in Westminster. She’ll be in Salisbury tomorrow night at WorWic Community College. On Wednesday morning, she’ll be at the Germantown Campus of Montgomery College, and she’ll speak at the Waldorf West Branch Library on Wednesday night.
A full schedule of the One Maryland, One Book events that are taking place throughout the year can be found here.
