Author Talk: Claudia Castro Luna Discusses “The Flowers Along the Way”

About the Book:

From El Salvador’s lush countryside to the streets of Oakland, California, a young mother wrestles with the intersecting forces of memory, history, and language in order to chart a new path for herself and her growing family. Fleeing political unrest and civil war violence in El Salvador, fourteen-year-old Claudia Castro Luna arrived in the United States with her family in 1981. Two decades later, holding her two-year-old and pregnant with her second child, she survives a public shooting by hiding behind shrubs in front of her house in Oakland. This event unleashes disorienting and traumatic memories, plunging her into a journey of discovery as she grapples with PTSD, recovers family stories, and begins to make sense of all that was torn asunder within her by the experiences of war and emigration. Beauty, longing, fear, and joy entwine in this powerful story of love, self-determination, and the search for home.

Claudia Castro Luna will appear in conversation with Suzanne Bottelli.

About the Speakers:

Claudia Castro Luna is an award-winning poet and writer, an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019-2020), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). She is the author of “Green the World” (Chin Music Press, 2026), “One River, A Thousand Voices”(Chin Music Press, 2020), “Cipota Under the Moon” (Tia Chucha Press, 2022) and “Killing Marías” (Two Sylvias Press, 2017). The latter two titles were shortlisted for the WA State Book Award in poetry, 2023 and 2018 respectively. Castro Luna is also the author of and the chapbook “This City” (Floating Bridge Press, 2016). Her most recent non-fiction is in “There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis” (Vintage) and in “Memory's Vault: The Poetic Heart of Fort Worden” (Empty Bowl). Castro Luna’s memoir, “The Flowers Along the Way” is forthcoming from Curbstone in fall 2026.

Born in El Salvador, Castro Luna lives in English and Spanish and writes and teaches in the Pacific Northwest.

Suzanne Bottelli is the author of the chapbooks " The Feltville Formation " (Finishing Line Press) and " American Grubble " (Ravenna Press). Her poems and book reviews have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Scoundrel Time, The Literary Review, Fine Madness, West Branch, and Prairie Schooner, among others. She has been a Jack Straw Writer and her full length manuscript was a finalist with Persea Books, Black Lawrence Press, and Poets@Work. Born and raised in New Jersey, Suzanne is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has received grants and awards from Artist Trust, The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Seattle Arts Commission, and Can Serrat, outside of Barcelona. She currently teaches English and manages the Education Program at Casa Latina in Seattle.

Thanks to our partners Elliott Bay Book Company, La Sala and Hedgebrook.

Thanks to our sponsors  The Seattle Public Library Foundation  and  The Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation.

Thanks to media sponsor  The Seattle Times.

Free and reduced access supported by  4Culture.

Registration is required. Register  here.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

View in catalog: Claudia Castro Luna.