Above: Events promoted as part of a “ONE” read initiative, featuring a Southborough author’s essays, are coming up next week. (images from author’s website, including photo by Alonso Nichols, and press release)
This summer, I shared MetroWest Readers Fest’s plans to feature a Southborough author’s work for their regional, community-wide read (ONE). They reached back out to remind readers that events promoted as part of ONE are coming up next week.
The book is “White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing” by Jennifer DeLeon:
Sometime in her twenties, Jennifer De Leon asked herself, “What would you do if you just gave yourself permission?” While her parents had fled Guatemala over three decades earlier when the country was in the grips of genocide and civil war, she hadn’t been back since she was a child. She gave herself permission to return—to relearn the Spanish that she had forgotten, unpack her family’s history, and begin to make her own way.
Alternately honest, funny, and visceral, this powerful collection follows De Leon as she comes of age as a Guatemalan-American woman and learns to navigate the space between two worlds. Never rich or white enough for her posh college, she finds herself equally adrift in her first weeks in her parents’ home country. During the years to follow, she would return to Guatemala again and again, meet ex-guerrillera and genocide survivors, get married in the old cobblestoned capital of Antigua, and teach her newborn son about his roots.
The upcoming events are hybrid, allowing participants to attend in person or over zoom. The event descriptions refer to De Leon’s previously published the YA novel “Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From”. (That isn’t the ONE selection, but may be how some attendees will be more familiar with her.)
Three Questions: An Evening With Author Jennifer De Leon
Tuesday, September 28th 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Ashland High School (and over zoom)
What does “three questions” refer to? Come join us on the 28th and find out! (Hint: You’ll understand if you read Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, but reading is definitely not a pre-requisite!)
For more details or to register, click here.
ONE Big Community Read: A Conversation with Jennifer De Leon
Thursday, September 30th 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Goodnow Library in Sudbury (and over zoom)
Whether or not you’ve read White Space, we enthusiastically invite you to a lively evening. Come hear Jenn discuss her family and her upbringing, her writing life, and what “White Space” means. If you’d like a head start, feel free to check out the Resources section of the MetroWest Readers Fest website for discussion questions and articles about and by Jenn. Attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions, share thoughts or just listen.
For more details or to register for the in-person event, click here. To attend via zoom, click here.
