How does a child find her way in the United States as a hybrid Hispanic American? Join the Center for American Progress and acclaimed author Marie Arana to discuss American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, a memoir of growing up between Peru and the United States. A finalist for the 2001 National Book Award and the PEN-Memoir Award, American Chica was chosen as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and numerous other newspapers as well as the American Library Association. It was the winner of the 2001 Books for a Better Life Award. The Spanish edition of American Chica was published in 2003.
Ms. Arana, current Book Editor of the Washington Post, is also the author of a collection of columns, The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work. Her novel Cellophane, a saga set in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, was published July, 2006, and was a finalist for the John Sargent Prize. It was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, and Library Journal, as well as receiving positive reviews in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and People magazine. The paperback version of Cellophane was published in 2007.
In this lively discussion, Arana will share insights into her writings, work and experiences growing up and living bicultural in the United States
Marie Arana, author of American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood
Moderated by:
Vanessa Cárdenas, Director of Ethnic Media, Center for American Progress