Register

Being Imperfect with Erika Sánchez

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Erika Sánchez, award-winning author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, joined in conversation by Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker award-winning author & poet.

Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, was a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and Tomás Rivera Award winner. Recognized by Time as one of the best YA novels of all time, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter has also been adapted for the stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater and is being made into a film directed by America Ferrera.

Sánchez’ critically acclaimed memoir-in-essays, Crying in the Bathroom, won the Chicago Review of Books Nonfiction award. Sánchez was a Fulbright Scholar, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent fellow from the Poetry Foundation, a Princeton Arts Fellow, a recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She lives in Chicago with her family.

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. She writes fairy tales that blend genre. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, and The Shoemaker’s Magician.

This program will be recorded and posted on YouTube within 5 approximately 5 days of the program. It will be viewable for 14 days from the post date. Registration is required to receive both the link to join live via Zoom and the YouTube recording link when available. 

This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present (ILP), a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.

ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility. To request accommodations, email illinoislibrariespresent@gmail.com.

Photo of Erika Sánchez by Adriana Diaz.

Upcoming events