By learning more about the US invasion of my native country, the fight over the Southern border, the land-grab that happened in 1848 when Mexico lost half its territory, it helped me to reframe the way I see myself as a Mexican immigrant living in California, a state that was once a part of Mexico. It fascinated me - their river crossing - because when we think of the Rio Grande, we think of people swimming across from south to north, but in this particular time in history, it was from north to south.Īnother thing that inspired me was that I had very little knowledge about the Mexican-American War of 1846–’48, and as I read more and more about it, I felt a yearning to reclaim this history.
They swam across the Rio Grande and found in Mexico what they hadn’t found in the US ranks: respect, friendship, opportunities. I did a little internet research and was immediately fascinated by this company of mainly Irish immigrants who had deserted from the United States army during the Mexican-American War, switching sides to fight for Mexico. REYNA GRANDE: In 2013, someone at a book reading asked me if I had ever heard of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion and its leader, John Riley. Reyna took time out of her busy schedule to talk with me about her work.ĪLEX ESPINOZA: Could you tell us a little about this new novel? What inspired you to write it? March brought her latest novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory, a sweeping historical drama set during the Mexican-American War that Publishers Weekly has called “a great story and a revealing look at a lesser-sung chapter of American history.” In June, HarperVia will publish her co-edited anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings, which features works by and about undocumented Americans. The ever-busy Grande has two new books appearing in 2022. She has taught at the Macondo Writers Workshop, Bread Loaf, and VONA.
In March 2020, she was a guest in Oprah’s Book Club. She has written about such topics as immigration, family separation, language trauma, the price of the American Dream, and her own writing journey in The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, and Buzzfeed, among other outlets. Her books, which also include the novels Across a Hundred Mountains (2006) and Dancing with Butterflies (2009 ), have been adopted as the common read selection by schools, colleges, and cities across the country. Grande has won numerous literary prizes, including an American Book Award, the Premio Aztlán Literary Prize, and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. REYNA GRANDE IS the author of the best-selling memoir The Distance Between Us (2012) and its much-anticipated sequel, A Dream Called Home (2018).
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