Reyna Grande

A 2003 Emerging Voices Fellow, Reyna Grande is an acclaimed author whose work often explores themes of immigration, family separation, and the cost of the American Dream. She is best known for her memoirs, The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home, which chronicle her experiences as an undocumented child immigrant from Mexico. In addition to her memoirs, Grande has written the novels Across a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and A Ballad of Love and Glory. She is also the co-editor of the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival and New Beginnings. Her essays and opinion pieces have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

Grande’s writing has earned her numerous awards and recognitions, including an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. The Distance Between Us was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards and the young reader’s version received an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award. 

Born in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, Grande immigrated to the United States at the age of nine. She became the first in her family to graduate from university and holds a BA and an MFA in creative writing. She is a proud member of the prestigious Macondo Writer’s Workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros and has shared her expertise by teaching creative writing at various institutions, including the MFA programs at Antioch University and Randolph College.