Posted on October 22, 2020 at 1:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction, for The Undocumented Americans.
Even if the book doesn’t receive the prize, though, it has made a permanent splash: it marks the first time that an undocumented person has been in the running for the prize.
Villavicencio, unsurprisingly, had been reluctant to write about her experience under her own name for years.
She explains in a New York Times interview what prompted her to change that stance, how she made the creative decisions that she did, and the emotional toll it took on her.
The Undocumented Americans reveals not just Villavicencio’s experiences but also that of a wide range of others; we’ll learn whether it received the National Book Award on November 18.
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Categories: Author Interview