On Friday, November 21, acclaimed writer Reyna Grande will read from her award-winning novel, Across a Hundred Mountains, at an event at Hartnell College’s Performing Arts Center.

Ms. Grande’s 11 a.m. reading will be followed by a performance from the witty literary performance artists One Straight Jacket Less beginning at noon. Ms. Grande also will read from her forthcoming novel, Dancing with Butterflies.

The event, co-sponsored by the Hartnell College English Department, the Homestead Review Literary magazine, and Circo Poetry Club, will be held in room 125 of the Performing Arts Center at Hartnell’s main campus at 411 Central Avenue in Salinas from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Across a Hundred Mountains tells the story of a young girl’s experience with border crossing, and focuses on the children left behind when parents leave Mexico to go to El Norte. It was awarded an American Book Award in 2007 and the 2006 El Premio Aztlan Literary Award. Ms. Grande earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and film from UC Santa Cruz. She is a candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing in December from Antioch University.

Reyna Grande was born in Mexico and was raised by her grandparents after her parents left her behind while they worked in the U.S. She came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant when she was 10 years old. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children and is a highly admired speaker to school and college groups.

For more information, please contact Hartnell English instructors Maria Garcia Teutsch at 831-755-6943 or Heidi Ramirez at 831-755-6942.