News and Blog — Luanne Rice

Winter Institute is amazing and what a joy it was to spend time with independent booksellers. I was invited by my wonderful publisher, Scholastic (book fairs! book clubs! Harry Potter! The Hunger Games!) to join the party in Denver CO and talk about my first YA novel, The Secret Language of Sisters. My fellow authors were Sharon Robinson (great writer, daughter of Jackie, my mother's idol) and Derek Anderson (amazing artist and writer of picture books) and we celebrated the fact that writing for children (in my case teenagers) is a very special calling. Their warmth and welcome into this new world for me made me feel so lucky. On top of that, we were taken care of, introduced, and nurtured by Scholastic's inimitable Bess Braswell and Jennifer Abbots.

On Oct. 7 I will be joining a panel at the JFK Library in Boston to discuss undocumented immigrants & the humanitarian challenges they face. This came about because of The Lemon Orchard, but it started even before, with the undocumented families that inspired my novel. You can RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1sV5KWY

BESTSELLING AUTHOR LUANNE RICE JOINS GLOBE TALKS

ON IMMIGRATION’S HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGES

Luanne Rice, Paul Bridges, Jennifer Hochschild and Marcela García

Join The Boston Globe & The Kennedy Library

to Offer Insight on the Human Face of Immigration Reform on October 7

(Oct. 3, 2014) – New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice will join an all-star panel at Globe Talks: Immigration’s Humanitarian Challenges at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston on October 7. Rice will share her thoughts on the humanitarian challenges that undocumented immigrants face, based on her own professional and personal experiences.

Rice shares her passion for humanitarian challenges facing undocumented immigrants in her most recent novel, THE LEMON ORCHARD. Her experiences with the thousands crossing the desert near her home in Southern California, her volunteer work with immigrants and research for her latest novel, give her deep insight to a cause and issue currently being debated in our nation’s capital.

Rice is incredibly honored to share the stage with pre-eminent immigration experts Paul Bridges, former mayor of Uvalda, Georgia and winner of the 2014 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award; Harvard Professor of Government Jennifer Hochschild; and writer and Boston Globe contributor Marcela García, who will moderate the event.

While volunteering with the group Water Station in the Anzo Borrega desert, Rice saw firsthand the dangerousness of the treks through the perilously hot and barren desert. She will discuss her character Roberto from THE LEMON ORCHARD, who was based on a real man she knew and who experienced that treacherous trek and the challenges of assimilating as an undocumented worker. Rice will also shed light on what she learned about the extortion and sexual assaults by “coyotes”—human smugglers who bring immigrants over the border—and the post-traumatic stress disorder that often follows. She will talk about her own Irish decent, and look at the similarities in immigration history that transcend culture, location and time.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 31 novels that have been translated into 24 languages. In her latest book, THE LEMON ORCHARD, she crafts the story of an undocumented immigrant who lost his daughter in the desert when crossing the border in search of a better life, a scenario that is both heart-wrenching and all too real.

Globe Talks: Immigration’s Humanitarian Challenges, will take place on October 7, 2014 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Immediately following the event, Luanne Rice will be available for book signings.

The forum is co-sponsored by the The Boston Globe and the JFK Library, and is free and open to the public. To register, visit the event’s website.

About Luanne Rice:

LUANNE RICE is the New York Times bestselling author of 31 novels that have been translated into 24 languages. The author of The Lemon Orchard, Little Night, The Silver Boat and Beach Girls, Rice’s books often center on love, family, nature and the sea. Rice is an avid naturalist and bird-watcher and is involved with domestic violence organizations such as the Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic. Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Rice divides her time between New York City, shoreline Connecticut and Southern California. Visit Luanne Rice online at www.luannerice.com

THE LEMON ORCHARD Luanne Rice Penguin Books

On-Sale: May 27, 2014 $16.00 978-0-14-312556-3 Also available as an e-book

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