Cerritos College News Release August 2016

Hear My Story Literature Celebration Coming to Cerritos College

Award winning author Reyna Grande to speak

Printer-friendly version

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2016

Media Contact: Aya Abelon, Public Affairs; (562) 653-7878 

Event Contact: Frank Gaik, Liberal Arts; (562) 860-2451 ext.2810

WHAT: Cerritos College will host a literature celebration event Hear My Story, Know My World on September 9. The event begins with music and refreshments at 8 a.m.

Following the opening remarks, Cerritos College’s very own author Paula Pereira will hold a workshop on How to Write and Illustrate Your Favorite Migration Story. Pereira, librarian at Cerritos College, penned and illustrated How I Learned English: The Story of a Brave Mexican Girl in 2015. The story is based on her own challenge to learn English when her parents migrated from Brazil to California, which included studying English at Cerritos College.

Sara Borjas will hold a workshop at 10 a.m., titled Taking Your Shadow to Poetry School and Beyond. Borjas, a Chicana poet, began her literary career as a student at Fresno Community College.  She now holds a master’s in fine arts from UC-Riverside.  As a member of Letras Latinas Writers Initiative and Chicano Writer’s and Artist’s Association, she organizes readings and contests for young people across the state.  She teaches poetry writing at the University of California, Riverside.

Reyna Grande, award-winning novelist, memoirist and inspiring public speaker, will deliver the keynote address at 11 a.m. Titled “The Journey Between Us: From Pasadena City College to Published Author,” Grande will speak about how her experience as a community college student provided the inspiration to pursue her education and career goals.  Her story appears in her latest book The Distance Between Us (Atria, 2012). Grande writes about her life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States.

Grande has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards, and in 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. Grande’s novels, Across a Hundred Mountains, (Atria, 2006) and Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square Press, 2009) were published to critical acclaim and have been read widely in schools across the country.

WHEN: Friday, September 9, 2016
8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

WHERE: Cerritos College
Student Center
11110 Alondra Blvd
Norwalk, CA 90650

Campus map: www.cerritos.edu/guide or www.cerritos.edu/google-map.

COST: This event is FREE and open to the public.

CONTACT:Frank Gaik, Liberal Arts; (562) 860-2451 ext.2810

 

About Cerritos College: Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County. Communities within the college’s district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Norwalk, and portions of Bell Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and South Gate. Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently averages 23,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at www.cerritos.edu.

 

-END-