The Library joins public broadcasting network PBS in a special online presentation – a conversation with acclaimed writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine – in conjunction with the 2020 Library of Congress National Book Festival. 

Fajardo-Anstine, a National Book Award finalist in 2019 for her debut collection of short stories, Sabrina and Corina, is among the best-selling authors, poets, and illustrators spotlighted in the Library of Congress’ annual event. This year’s festival explores the role of American ingenuity in our nation’s history, through both the best and worst of times. 

Fajardo-Anstine’s works often feature Latina and indigenous women in her native Colorado and in the American West. Sabrina and Corina, set in Colorado, is a series of interlocking stories revolving around Latinas who are in different stages of their lives but bonded by similar tragic, painful, and often violent experiences.  

The collection was named one of best books of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and the American Library Association, and also was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. 

The Library is partnering on the Facebook Live presentation with PBS’ PBS Books programming initiative, which serves as host of the event. The conversation will be cross-posted to the Library’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Attendees can participate in a Q&A session. 

Fajardo-Anstine also will be featured – with fellow authors Colson Whitehead, John Grisham, Kate DiCamillo, and Salman Rushdie, among others – in a later, two-hour PBS broadcast, The Library of Congress National Book Festival: Celebrating American Ingenuity. It will air on KCPT-Kansas City PBS at 1:30 p.m. on October 4.