Reyna Grande, author of “The Distance Between Us” and “A Dream Called Home,” has just published a new memoir, “Migrant Heart.” Here, Grande shares stories via email about how the book and audiobook came together, as well as what it was like to return to her high school in Highland Park. The author will be making appearances in Pasadena and Anaheim this month.
Q. Please tell readers about your new memoir, “Migrant Heart.”
“Migrant Heart” is my very first memoir-in-essays. My previous memoirs — “The Distance Between Us” and “A Dream Called Home” — were written chronologically. They were told right from the perspective of the child, teenager, or young adult, I was as those events unfolded.
“Migrant Heart” is different. It’s told entirely from the perspective of the adult Reyna. It means I get to look back and reflect on the moments that truly shaped me into the woman, wife, mother, and writer I am today.
Across the 20 essays in the collection, I explore themes of migration, family separation, and language trauma, as well as motherhood, breaking cycles, and the writing life. I also open up about heavier, deeply personal topics like sexual abuse, aging, and menopause. Ultimately, the emotional arc of the book is about learning how to reframe my trauma and intentionally make space for joy, not just sadness. My hope is that it invites readers to embark on their own journeys toward healing.
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Q. What’s something — a fact, a bit of dialogue, or something else — that has stayed with you from a recent reading?
The first thing that comes to mind is an interaction I just had yesterday! I was invited to speak at my old middle school, Luther Burbank in Highland Park. It was my very first time back since I graduated in 1990.
Walking around that campus was an incredibly bittersweet experience. I kept getting these intense flashbacks to when I was just a lonely, frightened girl. Back then, I was still reeling from the trauma of crossing the border and the years of family separation when my parents had to leave me in Mexico. I was struggling to learn English and desperately trying to figure out where I fit in.
To return to those same halls as a successful author — as someone who actually did carve out a place for herself here — was surreal. Standing in front of those students, I was so darn proud to let them see the woman I’ve become. Honestly, looking out at them felt like I was speaking directly to my younger self. When I was encouraging them to chase their dreams, it felt like I was traveling back in time just to tell teenage Reyna, “You can do it.”
Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?
I’m probably supposed to talk about other writers’ covers, but I have to be completely honest here — I am absolutely in love with my own! The cover for “Migrant Heart” is just stunning. In fact, I love it so much that I sewed a custom jacket for myself to perfectly match the book jacket! I’ve been wearing it to all my book tour events. The gorgeous artwork was designed by artist Calavera_Catrina, and she’s even offered to create a special tattoo design for me based on it. So, soon, I’m going to have my book cover tattooed right on my arm. That is just how much I adore it!
Q. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend?
I absolutely do, and Sandra Cisneros — who is one of my absolute favorite authors — does a truly wonderful job narrating her own books. I love listening to them just to hear the rhythm of her voice. A few years ago, she and I were talking about audiobooks, and she asked me why I didn’t narrate mine. I admitted to her that I felt deeply insecure about my accent. Back when I was a young English Language Learner, kids at school would make fun of the way I spoke, and I really internalized that shame. For a long time, I avoided it because I just didn’t like the sound of my own voice.
But Sandra convinced me that I needed to give it a shot. And you know what? I finally did. I narrated “Migrant Heart” myself! For me, it became a way of finally embracing how I speak and healing that childhood trauma of being mocked or made to feel like something was wrong with my voice. It was terrifying, but it was also incredibly empowering. I’d love to invite readers to give the audiobook a try!
Q. Do you have a favorite character or quote from a book?
When I was writing “Migrant Heart,” I kept a few quotes from the books I was reading for inspiration and wove them into my essays. Three really stayed with me.
1. Viet Thanh Nguyen, from his novel “The Sympathizer”: “Remember, you’re not half of anything, you’re twice of everything!” When my daughter was little, I mistakenly taught her to see herself as half Mexican and half White (she has a White father from Wisconsin), without realizing that identifying as ‘half’ keeps you from ever feeling whole. When I read Nguyen’s quote, I knew it was exactly what I should have been telling my daughter all along.
2. Melissa Febos, from “Body Work”: “Being healed by writing does not excuse you from the extravagantly hard work of making good art.” As a memoirist, it’s crucial to remember this. Writing about our trauma can be incredibly healing, but we are still creating art for an audience. We can’t lose sight of the craft — the pacing, the structure, the narrative arc. The story needs to hold meaning for the reader, not just for the writer. As I was writing “Migrant Heart,” I always kept that quote in my mind.
3. Ocean Vuong from their novel “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”: “I don’t want my sadness to be othered from me just as I don’t want my happiness to be othered. They’re both mine. I made them, dammit.” For the longest time, I kept my happiness out of my work, convinced that meaningful art only came from poking at my wounds. But at this stage in my life, I’m finally ready to make space for both. I want to write from a place of wholeness — allowing the trauma and the triumph to coexist on the page.
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Q. Is there a topic you’ll always read about?
I love reading immigrant stories. I love reading them as much as I love writing them. Some of my favorites are “Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits” by Laila Lalami, “Dear America” by Jose Antonio Vargas, “Solito” by Javier Zamora, “Someone Like Me” by Julissa Arce, “The Undocumented Americans” by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario, and “Tell Me How it Ends” by Valeria Luiselli.
Q. What do you look for in a book?
I am looking for that moment when I say, “I wish I’d written that book!” Honestly, my editor brain is almost always on when I read. I’m usually studying the pacing, the structure, or the narrative arcs. So, when a book is crafted so seamlessly that I completely forget about the mechanics and just get swept away as a reader, that’s when I know it’s something special.
Reyna Grande events
At Vroman’s in conversation with Leslie Priscilla
When: 7 p.m., June 15
Where: 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
Info: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-06-15/reyna-grande
At the Untold Story
When: 6:30 p.m., June 17
Where: 301 N Anaheim Blvd, Suite D, Anaheim