Karla Cornejo Villavicencio on “Catalina,” the Tale of an Undocumented Student at Harvard

About this episode

<p>Catalina Ituralde is the protagonist of the novel that bears her name, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593449096">Catalina</a>.” In the summer before her senior year of college, she’s working as an intern at a prestigious literary magazine, and come fall she’ll be back at Harvard to plot her future. But, contrary to a life of comfort that this scenario suggests, Catalina’s situation is complicated and uncertain: she’s an undocumented immigrant, raised in Queens by her grandparents, and after graduation she might not have the privilege of choosing what job she takes. “Catalina”<i> </i>is the second book by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, who first gained attention with <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dream-act-im-an-illegal-immigrant-at-harvard">the essay</a> “I’m an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard,” published anonymously in the Daily Beast; her first book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399592687">The Undocumented Americans</a>,” was a finalist for the National Book Award. Though Villavicencio has since become an American citizen, “There’s this Latin American paranoia that comes from my parents, [who] grew up under a dictatorship,” she tells David Remnick. “I’ve heard all of these stories . . . and then there’s also being undocumented here, where the idea that I could disappear at any time, my parents could disappear at any time – I don’t think that I’m necessarily capable of feeling that kind of permanence.”</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>