Reyna Grande

Reyna Grande is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. Her most recent titles are A Ballad of Love and Glory, a novel set during the Mexican-American War (March 15, 2022), and an anthology by and about undocumented Americans, Somewhere We Are Human (June 7, 2022). Her critically acclaimed memoir, The Distance Between Us, was a National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist. The Common Reading book selection at colleges and universities across the nation, in September 2016, The Distance Between Us was republished for young readers ages 10-14. The sequel, A Dream Called Home, was released in October 2018. Grande's first novel, Across A Hundred Mountains (Atria 2006), received an American Book Award (2007), El Premio Aztlan Literary Award (2006), and a Latino Books Into Movies Award (2010). Grande's second novel, Dancing with Butterflies, was published in October 2009 to critical acclaim. It was the recipient of a 2010 International Latino Book Award and was selected by Las Comadres Para Las Americas National Book Club. Born in Mexico in 1975, Grande was raised by her grandparents after her parents left her behind while they worked in the U.S. She came to the U.S. at the age of nine as an undocumented immigrant and went on to become the first person in her family to obtain a higher education. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and Film and Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She is a sought-after speaker at middle/high schools, colleges, and universities across the nation, and teaches creative writing workshops.