Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Harman Writer-In-Residence Fall 2021

Born in Ecuador and raised undocumented in New York City, author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio writes with candor and clarity about mental health, beauty, music, and the experiences of immigrants who live in this country without citizenship. A 2011 graduate of Harvard, her work has been published by the likes of The New York Times, Vogue and many other publications. Her first book, The Undocumented Americans (2020), a collection of essays that are part memoir, part reporting, has been greeted with enormous acclaim. Not only was it a finalist for the National Book Award, but the book was listed among Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020 and was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.  She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Yale University. Read her interview with NYT here.

A Fantastic Reading & Conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Last month, with great joy, the Harman Program celebrated our first in-person event since 2019. Our Fall 2021 Harman Writer-in-Residence Karla Cornejo Villavicencio gave a reading from her acclaimed book The Undocumented Americans and spoke about her life, experiences, and creative process. We learned about Cornejo Villavicencio’s unconventional approach in her first book, which synthesizes biography with reporting and constantly grapples with the complex challenge of writing about people in a way that is both honest and respectful. She also spoke compellingly about translation and the immigrant community, the music that impacts her work, and how often people want to ask her about the American Dream, and she answered many questions from Baruch students in the audience.

The conversation part of the evening was led by Baruch Professors Rojo Robles Mejias and Rebecca Salois, who recorded it for their podcast, Latinx Visions. If you weren’t able to join in person, you can listen to it here.

Photo by Glenda Hydler