Prominent readers had praised it in terms worthy of a Nobel Prize. In the months leading up to American Dirt’s publication, Macmillan had positioned the page-turner - about a mother and son escaping cartel violence in Mexico - as a definitive chronicle of the migrant experience. “I wouldn’t eat the sandwiches,” recalled Myriam Gurba, one of the activists. A representative of Oprah Winfrey’s listened in on the phone, and a platter of sandwiches sat on the table.

Facing them was a collection of white editors and executives from Macmillan, the publishing house that had recently put out American Dirt, the most controversial book of the year, or maybe the century.

Four Latinx writers and activists sat on one side of a long conference table. Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.On a mild Monday this past February, a tense meeting unfolded in a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. She is matching donations up to $100,000 until the end of 2020.Īudiobook Excerpt Included American Dirt narrated by Yareli Arizmendi Jeanine is working with the International Rescue Committee to raise funds to help support severely under-resourced programs that offer protection and hope to the men, women, and children waiting in Mexico to get to the United States. The Book of Rosie by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo It’s a deep-dive conversation into a book that readers loved - and which they have noted made a strong impact on them. And there was also a lively conversation about the audio version. Readers who joined asked about the title, the cover design, the incorporation of Spanish into the prose, and what Jeanine hoped people would take away from it. And yes, they talked about the controversy surrounding it at publication. Jeanine and Carol cover a lot of ground in this conversation, including her research for the book, the stops and starts it had over a five-year period, her various inspirations, and her passion for the subject matter. American Dirt is a Bookreporter Bets On pick, as well as an Oprah Book Club selection and is a finalist for the Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award in Fiction. Carol had been looking forward to this interview for a long time. To finish we went to questions from our Zoom audience.

We have a new format for our first “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event, in which we discuss American Dirt with the author, Jeanine Cummins.Ĭarol interviews Jeanine at the start and then invites eight readers to ask questions live.

Jeanine cummins books in order