An Evening with Sonia Nazario

October 28, 2011
Last night this year’s Go Big Read author, Sonia Nazario, made an appearance at Varsity Hall to give a talk to an audience of over 1,000 people.


Nazario discussed her life growing up, including that before her freshman year at Williams College, she had only written three-page papers. She knew that she had to work hard since many of the students had come from elite prep schools. Eventually, this led her to become a successful journalist/writer, which is very inspiring.

Aside from learning about Sonia herself and her other works on social issues and children of drug addicts, the audience learned about how Enrique’s Journey started. Sonia had a housekeeper who was from Guatemala and had left her four children behind. Not only did she leave her children behind, she had not seen them in 12 years which compelled Nazario to embark on her journey and write this novel.

Not only did Sonia Nazario address the issues of immigration, but she provided the audience with ways that we can help change the immigration problem. She mentioned buying fair trade coffee and clothing among many other things we can do to help. Other suggestions can be found on her website as well as current information about Enrique and his family, etc.

Other news sources that wrote about Nazario’s talk:
The Daily Cardinal, The Badger Herald, and the Wisconsin State Journal

Jessica Waala
Undergraduate Student