A Ballad of Love and Glory: A Conversation with Reyna Grande

We are delighted to host the renowned Mexican-American author Reyna Grande, who will discuss her prolific and multifaceted career, including the translation of her work, in conversation with Dr Catherine Leen from the Department of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Reyna will read from her latest novel A Ballad of Love and Glory (Atria 2022), a celebration of the intertwined histories of Ireland and Mexico told through the story of the St Patrick's Battalion's defence of Mexico during the Mexican-American War

Reyna Grande is the award-winning author of the bestselling memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home, chronicling her childhood in Mexico and her journey as an undocumented immigrant to the United States. Her novels include Across a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and A Ballad of Love and Glory. She co-edited the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings.

Her accolades include an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, a Latino Spirit Award, a Writers for Writers Award, and the International Literacy Association Children's Book Award for the young reader's edition of The Distance Between Us. In 2012, she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Reyna Grande holds a BA and an MFA in creative writing and is a highly sought-after writing teacher and public speaker.

Dr Catherine Leen is Associate Professor in Hispanic Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Her teaching and research interests centre on Mexican and Chicana/o literature and cinema, as well as Argentine and Paraguayan literature and visual cultures. She has published widely on Chicana/o writers, such as Sandra Cisneros and Tomás Rivera, and on Chicana/o and Latin American cinematographers. In 2008, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Chicana/o Studies Centre at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her book International Perspectives on Chicana/o Culture: “This World is My Place”, published by Routledge, New York, in November 2014, explores the relevance of Chicana/o Studies outside the United States.

If you enjoy events about literary translation, take a look at what else we have planned at the Centre, here.