About this Event
Join us for an evening of poignant conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, National Book Award finalist and one of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard. Karla’s new novel, , is a powerful coming-of-age story inspired by her experiences navigating life as an undocumented immigrant. She’ll be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist José Antonio Vargas, author of . Together, they’ll dive into stories of resilience, identity, and the realities of living undocumented in America.
This is more than a book talk—it’s a space for us to connect, share, and celebrate the power of our stories. Karla will sign books after the discussion. Whether you’re undocumented yourself, come from a mixed-status family, or are an ally, this event is for you.
Event is FREE and open to all. Registration is required.
Co-sponsored by Define American and the Office of San José Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei.
About the Author:
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian writer and the author of the National Book Award finalist . Her work, which focuses on race, culture, and immigration, has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Elle, n+1, The New Inquiry, Interview, and on NPR.
About Catalina:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A year in the life of the unforgettable Catalina Ituralde, a wickedly wry and heartbreakingly vulnerable student at an elite college, forced to navigate an opaque past, an uncertain future, tragedies on two continents, and the tantalizing possibilities of love and freedom
“Diabolically charming and magnetic. I enjoyed the hell out of this little exploding geyser of a book.”—Ira Glass
When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her own complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented; her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires. She infiltrates the school’s elite subcultures—internships and literary journals, posh parties and secret societies—which she observes with the eye of an anthropologist and an interloper’s skepticism: she is both fascinated and repulsed. Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, an actual budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?
Brash and daring, part campus novel, part hagiography, part pop song, Catalina is unlike any coming-of-age novel you’ve ever read—and Catalina, bright and tragic, circled by a nimbus of chaotic energy, driven by a wild heart, is a character you will never forget.
About the Moderator:
Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated theatrical producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit narrative change organization Define American, named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. His best-selling memoir, : Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Knopf in 2025.
In 2019, he co-produced Heidi Schreck’s acclaimed Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me, which was nominated for a Tony Award for "Best Play" and is streamable on Amazon Prime Video. His second Broadway production, a staging of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love, opened at the Broadway Theatre in July 2023.
In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. He then produced and directed Documented, a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience.
Broadcast on CNN and streamed on Netflix, it received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. Also in 2015, MTV aired White People, an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what it means to be young and white in a demographically-changing America
In 2020, Fortune named him one of its "40 under 40" most influential people in government and politics. Among other accolades he has received are the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA and honorary degrees from Emerson College, Colby College, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Passionate about promoting equity in education for all students, he serves on the advisory board of TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant students; and, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed him to the Board of Trustees of California State University, the largest four-year public university system in the United States.
A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a proud graduate of San Francisco State University ('04), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and Mountain View High School ('00). An elementary school named after Vargas opened in his hometown of Mountain View, California in August 2019.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Rotunda at San Jose City Hall, 200 East Santa Clara Street, San Jose, United States
USD 0.00
