Cuentos Para Dormir

Founder, Artistic Director and facilitator of a participatory literacy / arts project (2014 - present), in collaboration with DreamersMoms USA-Tijuana, engaging parents deported from U.S. to Mexico in allegorizing their stories of family separation via children's books.

The 7 individual stories, self-published as a collection of picture books, are idiosyncratic artifacts that use magical realism to narrate lived experiences of state violence at the hands of the U.S. immigration system. Authored by parents and illustrated by children impacted by U.S. immigration policy, the books speak to themes of love, faith, and resilience, and to the urgent need for family reunification and immigration reform in the U.S.

Parent authors: Hector Barajas, Maria Francisca Garcia, Monserrat Galvan Godoy, Felix Peralta, Emma Sanchez Paulsen, Yolanda Varona, Robert Vivar.

Updates
La Luciérnaga y Sus Estrellas by Yolanda Varona has been professionally illustrated and published by San Diego State University as a bilingual book, and is slated for Spring 2022 distribution.

Exhibitions and Presentations
UC Berkeley, English Department (March 13, 2019)
San Diego State University, School of Art + Design (September 29, 2017)
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana, BC, MX (May 3, 2016)
University of Oregon, College of Education (May 2, 2016)
Universidad Autónoma, Tijuana, BC, MX. (March 12, 2016)
Creando Enlaces Bi-National Library Conference, Tijuana, BC, MX. (March 11, 2016)

Press
Los Angeles Times - Dreaming of a Happy Ending
San Diego Union Tribune - Madres Exiliadas... (Spanish)
Agencia EFE - Cuentos Para Dormir... (Spanish)
Síntesis TV - Cuentos para narrar el fenómeno de la deportación (Spanish)
Art Bound LA (KCET) - Book Project Connects Deported Parents with Children
San Diego City Beat - The Fight to Reunite
Vida Latina SD (Spanish)
Arteria MX (Spanish)