Whether you have questions about the Virgin of Guadalupe, migration to the United States, Mexican drag queens preparing for a gay beauty contest, drug cartels, AMLO’s presidency or opera in Tijuana, two seasoned reporters scheduled to give an informal talk online on Sunday will have an opinion on it.
The San Miguel Literary Sala will bring together accomplished journalists Sam Quinones and Alfredo Corchado to share their insights with viewers on a variety of topics, ranging from relating to life and society in Mexico and the country’s relationship with the U.S. in an interactive Zoom webinar being offered virtually to the public.
Both award-winning writers have lived in and covered Mexico for decades.
Quinones, a reporter for 32 years and the author of four acclaimed books, grew up in California and is best known for his reporting on Mexico and on Mexicans in the United States. He is the author of True Tales from Another Mexico and Antonio’s Gun and Delfin’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration.
His latest book, Dreamland, discusses the surprising origins of the opioid crisis, the explosion in heroin use and how one small Mexican town changed how heroin was produced and sold in America. The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review has called Quinones “the most original writer on Mexico and the border out there.”
Corchado, Mexico City bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News and author of Midnight in Mexico and Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration, was born in Durango and migrated to the U.S. as a child. Along with his parents, he became a migrant farmworker in San Joaquin Valley, California.
When he was 13, he was interviewed by PBS about the lives of farmworkers, and that exchange stayed with him for life once he realized that people cared about how farmworkers lived and were interested in “giving us a voice.” Corchado’s knowledge of the Mexican political system, the drug trade and modern Mexican society is unparalleled.
This event, taking place on Sunday from 6–7:30 p.m. in Central Daylight Time, is an opportunity to ask your burning questions to two award-winning writers who have lived in and covered Mexico for decades. Tickets cost from US $5 to US $50 — pay what you wish. For more information, go to the San Miguel Literary Sala website.