Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can't Forget

An ambitious memoir in essays by beloved bestselling author Reyna Grande that illuminates the hidden cost of the American Dream

Co-presented with KALW

Reyna Grande has spent her career capturing the raw reality of life across borders. In this intricate and deeply intimate memoir-in-essays, the author of the landmark memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home again turns her gaze inward to explore the scars left by migration and the ongoing work of stitching herself back together.

With her signature blend of sophistication and raw honesty, Grande interrogates how living between two nations, two languages, and two identities has shaped the woman, mother, and writer she has become. Migrant Heart is a powerful testament to Grande’s role as a storyteller and cultural witness. It expands our understanding of life in the United States and the complex people who cross and live within its borders. It is an essential read for the seekers, the dreamers, and anyone who believes in the enduring, transformative power of finding one’s voice. In conversation with KALW's Angie Coiro. FREE

Reyna Grande is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. As a young girl, she crossed the US–Mexico border to join her family in Los Angeles, a harrowing journey chronicled in The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other books include the novels A Ballad of Love and Glory, Across a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, the memoirs Migrant Heart, The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and A Dream Called Home, and the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings. She lives in Woodland, California, with her husband and two children.

Angie Coiro is an award-winning radio journalist and on-stage interviewer. Her decades of experience have established her as a top-tier media personality and moderator. After fifteen years at KQED Radio and Television, she hosted the syndicated show, In Deep with Angie Coiro, until 2023. Coiro’s interview guests have included Al Gore, Roxane Gay, Anna Quindlen, Jane Mayer, Joan Baez, Will Durst, Mary Roach, Salman Rushdie, Bernie Sanders, Barney Frank, and Dana Carvey. Coiro hosts and co-produces the This Is Now with Angie Coiro series with Kepler’s Literary Foundation. She hosts and moderates events for private clients and non-profit organizations, appearing over the years with The Commonwealth Club and City Arts and Lectures. Her work as a voiceover talent includes corporate demos, narrations, and commercial work. She lives on the San Francisco Peninsula and cleans a lot of litter boxes.