Join us on Monday, August 26 at 7pm PT when Gina María Balibrera joins us to celebrate her debut novel, The Volcano Daughters, with Lauren Markham at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Volcano Daughters
"A gripping and spellbinding novel about a sisterhood ripped apart by violence, narrated by a ghostly chorus. An unforgettable debut."--Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half
"Gina María Balibrera is a tremendous new talent. The Volcano Daughters is a towering achievement at the intersection of ancient myth, political history, and vibrant storytelling. A fierce and pulsating novel, this book will capture your heart and enrich your mind."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina
"Inventive, surprising, and potent, I fell under Gina Balibrera's spell from the first line and could not look away. To write a book with this much heart, where each sentence feels like it plumbs the darkest depths and soars to the brightest of skies, you have to be some sort of savant of the human heart. The Volcano Daughters blew my mind with its rich humor, its beautiful portrayal of women's lives, and its unstoppable plot, all wrapped up in a narrative voice I'd follow anywhere. How lucky we are to have Balibrera spinning tales for us this good. I'll be her reader for life."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman
About The Volcano Daughters
A searingly original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide--which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco's Cannery Row--each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories.
El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo's regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways...
Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.
About Gina María Balibrera
Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She's been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship.
About Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of the award-winning The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life. Her work has appeared in VQR, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. She teaches writing at the University of San Francisco and in the Ashland University MFA in Writing Program.
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Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Volcano Daughters
"A gripping and spellbinding novel about a sisterhood ripped apart by violence, narrated by a ghostly chorus. An unforgettable debut."--Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half
"Gina María Balibrera is a tremendous new talent. The Volcano Daughters is a towering achievement at the intersection of ancient myth, political history, and vibrant storytelling. A fierce and pulsating novel, this book will capture your heart and enrich your mind."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina
"Inventive, surprising, and potent, I fell under Gina Balibrera's spell from the first line and could not look away. To write a book with this much heart, where each sentence feels like it plumbs the darkest depths and soars to the brightest of skies, you have to be some sort of savant of the human heart. The Volcano Daughters blew my mind with its rich humor, its beautiful portrayal of women's lives, and its unstoppable plot, all wrapped up in a narrative voice I'd follow anywhere. How lucky we are to have Balibrera spinning tales for us this good. I'll be her reader for life."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman
About The Volcano Daughters
A searingly original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide--which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco's Cannery Row--each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories.
El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo's regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways...
Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.
About Gina María Balibrera
Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She's been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship.
About Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of the award-winning The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life. Her work has appeared in VQR, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. She teaches writing at the University of San Francisco and in the Ashland University MFA in Writing Program.
Join us on Monday, August 26 at 7pm PT when Gina María Balibrera joins us to celebrate her debut novel, The Volcano Daughters, with Lauren Markham at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Volcano Daughters
"A gripping and spellbinding novel about a sisterhood ripped apart by violence, narrated by a ghostly chorus. An unforgettable debut."--Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half
"Gina María Balibrera is a tremendous new talent. The Volcano Daughters is a towering achievement at the intersection of ancient myth, political history, and vibrant storytelling. A fierce and pulsating novel, this book will capture your heart and enrich your mind."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina
"Inventive, surprising, and potent, I fell under Gina Balibrera's spell from the first line and could not look away. To write a book with this much heart, where each sentence feels like it plumbs the darkest depths and soars to the brightest of skies, you have to be some sort of savant of the human heart. The Volcano Daughters blew my mind with its rich humor, its beautiful portrayal of women's lives, and its unstoppable plot, all wrapped up in a narrative voice I'd follow anywhere. How lucky we are to have Balibrera spinning tales for us this good. I'll be her reader for life."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman
About The Volcano Daughters
A searingly original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide--which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco's Cannery Row--each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories.
El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo's regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways...
Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.
About Gina María Balibrera
Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She's been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship.
About Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of the award-winning The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life. Her work has appeared in VQR, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. She teaches writing at the University of San Francisco and in the Ashland University MFA in Writing Program.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Volcano Daughters
"A gripping and spellbinding novel about a sisterhood ripped apart by violence, narrated by a ghostly chorus. An unforgettable debut."--Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half
"Gina María Balibrera is a tremendous new talent. The Volcano Daughters is a towering achievement at the intersection of ancient myth, political history, and vibrant storytelling. A fierce and pulsating novel, this book will capture your heart and enrich your mind."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina
"Inventive, surprising, and potent, I fell under Gina Balibrera's spell from the first line and could not look away. To write a book with this much heart, where each sentence feels like it plumbs the darkest depths and soars to the brightest of skies, you have to be some sort of savant of the human heart. The Volcano Daughters blew my mind with its rich humor, its beautiful portrayal of women's lives, and its unstoppable plot, all wrapped up in a narrative voice I'd follow anywhere. How lucky we are to have Balibrera spinning tales for us this good. I'll be her reader for life."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman
About The Volcano Daughters
A searingly original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide--which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco's Cannery Row--each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories.
El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo's regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways...
Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.
About Gina María Balibrera
Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She's been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship.
About Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of the award-winning The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life. Her work has appeared in VQR, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. She teaches writing at the University of San Francisco and in the Ashland University MFA in Writing Program.
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