Wilton Reads: Author Talk with Cristina Henriquez – The Great Divide

Wilton Reads 2024 culminates with Wilton Library‘s author talk event featuring Cristina Henriquez, acclaimed author of The Great Divide.

The Great Divide is a fascinating historical novel about the Panama Canal construction, one of the greatest historical engineering feats. It importantly explores laborers, locals, activists, doctors, scientists, and others interwoven stories. They are clearly the diverse unsung heroes who lived and worked alongside the massive project. They also witnessed firsthand the human cost of progress as they fought to survive amid turmoil and disease.

The Great Divide is a TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, an Indie Next Pick, a LibraryReads Pick. It has been named a Best of the Month Pick by Amazon, TIME, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times as well.

Henriquez wrote four books, including The Book of Unknown Americans, a New York Times Notable Book of 2014 and one of Amazon’s Top 10 Best Books of the Year. It was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

Henriquez is also the author of The World in Half and Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories. She additionally earned the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award, a grant by Sandra Cisneros honoring her father. Obtaining her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and graduating from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Henriquez now lives in Illinois.

Wiltonian Joanna Ecke will interview Henriquez. Ecke taught public high school English for many years and leads several literary discussion groups at Wilton Library.

Henriquez will receive the Grodin Family Fine Writers Award.

This program will be recorded and available for viewing for 30 days after the event.

Elm Street Books will sell copies and Henriquez will sign after the presentation. A portion of the proceeds goes to Wilton Library.

GOOD Morning Wilton is the media sponsor of Wilton Reads 2024.

Registration is required. To register and for more information, visit online, or call 203.762.6334.