Two evenings with “ONE” writer Jennifer De Leon from Southborough – next week

Above: Events promoted as part of a ‘ONE’ reading initiative, featuring essays by a Southborough author, arrive next week. (images from the author’s website, including a photo of Alonso Nichols, and press release)

This summer, I shared MetroWest Readers Fest’s plans to showcase the work of an author from Southborough for their Regional and Community Reading (ONE). They reminded readers that the events promoted under ONE will take place next week.

The book is “White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing” by Jennifer DeLeon:

In her twenties, Jennifer De Leon asked herself, “What would you do if you gave yourself permission?” While her parents had fled Guatemala more than three decades earlier when the country was in the throes of genocide and civil war, she had not returned since her childhood. She gave herself permission to come back, relearn the Spanish she had forgotten, unpack her family history and start making her own path.

Alternately honest, funny, and visceral, this powerful collection follows De Leon as she comes of age as a Guatemalan-American woman and learns to navigate the space between two worlds. Never rich enough or white enough for her chic university, she also finds herself adrift in her first weeks in her parents’ home country. Over the following years, she would return to Guatemala again and again, meet former guerrillas and genocide survivors, get married in the ancient cobbled capital of Antigua, and teach her newborn son about her roots.

Upcoming events are hybrid, allowing participants to attend in person or on zoom. The descriptions of the event refer to De Leon’s previously published novel by YA “Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From”. (This is not the ONE selection, but this may be how some participants will know it best.)

Three questions: an evening with author Jennifer De Leon
Tuesday September 28 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at Ashland High School (and on zoom)

What does “three questions” refer to? Join us on the 28th and find out! (Hint: You’ll understand if you read Don’t ask me where I’m from, but reading is definitely not a prerequisite!)

For more details or to register, click here.

ONE Big Community Read: A Conversation with Jennifer De Leon
Thursday, September 30 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Goodnow Library in Sudbury (and zoom)

Whether or not you’ve read White Space, we enthusiastically invite you to a lively evening. Come hear Jenn talk about her family and upbringing, her life as a writer and what “White Space” means. If you want to get a head start, feel free to check out the Resources section of the MetroWest Readers Fest website for discussion questions and articles on and by Jenn. Participants will have ample opportunity to ask questions, share their thoughts or simply listen.

For more details or to register for the event in person, click here. To assist via zoom, click here.