Valeria Luiselli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Valeria Luiselli
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Luiselli at the 2016 Hay Festival
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| Born | August 16, 1983 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Occupation | Author |
| Education | National Autonomous University of Mexico (BA) Columbia University (PhD) |
| Period | 2013–present |
Valeria Luiselli (born August 16, 1983) is a talented author from Mexico and the United States. She writes both essays and novels that are enjoyed by many readers.
Valeria Luiselli has won several important awards for her writing. Her novel Faces in the Crowd won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her book The Story of My Teeth was also recognized with the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Fiction.
In 2014, she received the "5 under 35" award from the National Book Foundation, which celebrates young, promising writers. In 2019, she won a MacArthur Fellowship, often called a "Genius Grant," for her amazing work. She also received the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature in 2020 and the Folio Prize.
Luiselli is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, a group that discusses important issues in the Americas.
Contents
Valeria Luiselli's Writing Career
How Luiselli Started Writing
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Valeria Luiselli first earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After that, she moved to New York City. There, she studied comparative literature at Columbia University, where she earned her PhD.
Today, Luiselli teaches literature and creative writing at Bard College. She also works with art galleries as a writer. She has even written for the New York City Ballet. In 2016, she helped choose the winner for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
Books Inspired by Real Life
Many of Luiselli's books are based on her own experiences or real-world events.
The Story of My Teeth
Her novel The Story of My Teeth (2015) was first written in a special way. It was released in parts to workers at a juice factory in Mexico. The workers would read the chapters out loud and share their thoughts. Luiselli used their comments to help her write the next parts of the story.
Tell Me How It Ends
Her nonfiction book Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions (2017) comes from her time volunteering. She worked as an interpreter for young people from Central America who were seeking legal status in the United States. This book was a finalist for an important award in 2017.
Lost Children Archive
Her work helping children seeking safety from Latin America also inspired her 2019 novel, Lost Children Archive. This book explores similar themes.
Valeria Luiselli's Early Life and Family
Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City. When she was two years old, her family moved to Madison, Wisconsin. Her father worked for groups that help people (called NGOs) and later became a diplomat. Because of his work, her family lived in many different countries, including Costa Rica, South Korea, and South Africa.
When she was 16, her parents separated, and she moved back to Mexico City with her mother. Luiselli attended UWC Mahindra College in India. Then, she returned to Mexico for university. She studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Later, she lived in Spain and France.
Luiselli first came to New York to study modern dance. She also worked as an intern at the United Nations. She now lives in the Bronx with her family.
Valeria Luiselli's Community Involvement
Luiselli is very passionate about helping others and using her writing to make a difference.
Helping Young People Through Literacy
She started a reading program for girls in a detention center in New York. This program focuses on creative writing. Luiselli is very interested in researching and writing about how people are held in detention centers in the United States. She is especially focused on helping children in these centers.
Writing About Migration and Asylum Seekers
Luiselli has a strong interest in writing about and working to improve the lives of children seeking safety from Latin America. This important topic is a main theme in her 2019 novel, Lost Children Archive.
She started writing Lost Children Archive in 2014. She wanted it to be a way to express her strong feelings about the migration crisis. This was after she worked as a court translator for children from Latin America. Writing this book was also a way for her own daughter to understand the migration crisis.
Before finishing Lost Children Archive, Luiselli published Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions. This essay uses the same questions she used when interviewing children in court. It also includes her own experience applying for a green card. Writing this essay helped her write Lost Children Archive with "more open questions" instead of just strong political statements.
Valeria Luiselli's Published Works
Sidewalks
Sidewalks is Luiselli's first book of essays. In this book, she explores ideas about moving, traveling, and thinking deeply about things.
Faces in the Crowd
Faces in the Crowd (2011) is a novel told from three different viewpoints. It follows a young mother who works as a translator in New York. It also includes the main character of a novel the mother is writing, and a Mexican poet from the 20th century named Gilberto Owen. These three stories are woven together throughout the book.
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions
In this book, Luiselli shares her experiences working as an interpreter for children who have migrated from Central America. The book connects the difficult journeys of these children coming to the United States with Luiselli's own experience of getting a green card to stay in the country with her family.
Lost Children Archive
This is Luiselli's fifth book, and it was her first one written in English. She said she used it to express her strong feelings about the migration crisis. Lost Children Archive follows a family—a mother, father, and their two children—on a road trip from New York to Arizona during the summer. Along the way, they learn about the challenges of immigration. They also realize they might soon face their own difficulties.
Awards and Special Recognition
- 2018: American Book Award for Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions
- 2019: MacArthur Fellowship
- 2020: Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature, Vilcek Foundation
- 2020: Folio Prize
- 2021: International Dublin Literary Award
- 2023: Royal Society of Literature International Writer
Images for kids
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Luiselli at PEN America/Free Expression Literature, May 2014
See also
In Spanish: Valeria Luiselli para niños
