Reyna Grande Award-Winning Author, Motivational Speaker, Writing Teacher

About the Author

Reyna Grande is a bestselling author and an in-demand motivational speaker. Her inspirational memoir, The Distance Between Us, tells her story before and after she illegally immigrated from Mexico to the United States. At the age of nine, Grande left Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, to follow her parents who had immigrated to the United States years earlier – her father leaving when Grande was just two years old. After entering the country as an undocumented immigrant, she went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college, receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University.

In 2018, Grande released a sequel to her memoir called A Dream Called Home, a moving account of her experience as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for herself. Her other books include Across a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and her most recent novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory, which tells a story of love and survival during the Mexican-American War, and has been called “epic and exquisitely wrought” by New York Times bestselling author Patricia Engel. Her books have been adopted as the common read selection by numerous schools and cities across the country. Her upcoming title is a collection of personal essays called Migrant Heart.

She has received many awards, including an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the Luis Leal Award for distinction in Chicano/Latino literature. In 2012 she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Distance Between Us, young readers’ version, received a 2017 International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award and a 2016 Eureka! Honor Award from the California Reading Association.

In her lectures and keynote presentations, Grande sheds light on the challenges and experiences facing undocumented immigrants in the United States. She is an important voice in the ongoing national conversation around immigration politics. Grande currently resides in Woodland, California with her husband and two children.

Suggested Topics

• Crossing Mountains: A Journey from Undocumented Immigrant to Award-Winning Author
When she immigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine, Reyna Grande was made to feel ashamed about being a border crosser. Now, being a border crosser is her super-power. Reyna Grande will speak about all the borders she has had to cross, and her transformation from an undocumented immigrant living on the margins of society to a widely read bestselling author.

• The Price of the American Dream
There is much to be gained from immigrating—a safer place to live, better economic and educational opportunities, a better life, and a brighter future. But at what cost? Author Reyna Grande will speak about what immigrants gain and lose in their pursuit of the American Dream.

• Coyotes and Border Agents: The Impact of Teachers on Their Immigrant Students
The trauma that immigrant students face before, during, and after migration can have a lasting impact on their physical and mental health, their interactions with the world, and their ability to learn. Reyna Grande, who walked across the border at nine years old to be reunited with her father, will discuss how teachers can develop an awareness of the needs of this vulnerable population and create safe places where they can share meaningful learning experiences.