PBS Books is pleased to host a conversation with trailblazing writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of “Woman of Light: A Novel.” “Woman of Light” is a multigenerational saga published by One World, an imprint of Random House dedicated to telling underrepresented stories. Fajardo-Anstine’s book reclaims Indigenous Chicanas’ place in the history of the American West and Colorado. Protagonist Luz Lopez immerses the reader on an adventurous journey in the West, highlighting important issues of domestic abuse, alcoholism, racism, discrimination, police brutality, Mexican-American ‘Repatriation,’ and more.
This event is offered in collaboration National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and NaNoWriMo’s Executive Director Grant Faulkner welcomes the audience and participates.
About the Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the nationally bestselling author of the novel Woman of Light and the story collection Sabrina & Corina, a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, The Clark Prize, The Story Prize, the Saroyan International Prize, and winner of an American Book Award, she is the 2021 recipient of the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been honored with the Denver Mayor’s Award for Global Impact in the Arts and the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Award. She has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, O: the Oprah Magazine, The American Scholar, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and Tin House. Fajardo-Anstine earned her MFA from the University of Wyoming and has lived across the country, from Durango, Colorado, to Key West, Florida. She is the 2022 – 2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University.