Photo by Alfredo Pelcastre
ICA Announces 2018 ICA Reads Selection: Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) announces its 2018 ICA Reads selection, Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions. An artful take on the book club, ICA Reads—now in partnership with local literary organizations GrubStreet and Mass LEAP—presents a book of critical and societal importance and an opportunity to gather for discussion and meet the author.
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions is a short, insightful retelling of Luiselii’s personal experience as a translator for children migrating to the United States, predominately from Central America. Her innovative storytelling, structured around the forty official immigration questions that unaccompanied immigrant children facing deportation must answer, humanizes a fraught and contentious topic. Luiselli weaves together her personal stories with snippets she hears from immigrant children, highlighting the contradiction between the idea of America as a fiction for immigrants and the reality of racism and fear—both here and back home.
ICA Reads: Valeria Luiselli with Jill Medvedow, Thursday, April 5, 7 PM
Join Luiselli as she discusses the process of writing Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, the need for “mapping” stories, and her thoughts on the similarities between novels and contemporary art with Jill Medvedow, Ellen Matilda Poss Director. Book signing to follow. Free admission, first come, first served; tickets available at the box office two hours prior to start of program.
About the Author
Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City in 1983 and grew up in South Africa. A novelist (Faces in the Crowd and The Story of My Teeth) and essayist (Sidewalks and Tell Me How It Ends), her work has been translated into many languages. In 2014, Faces in the Crowd was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 award. The Story of My Teeth was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the 2015 Los Angeles Times Prize for Best Fiction.
About the ICA
An influential forum for multi-disciplinary arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston has been at the leading edge of art in Boston for 80 years. Like its iconic building on Boston’s waterfront, the ICA offers new ways of engaging with the world around us. Its exhibitions and programs provide access to contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA, located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 AM–5 PM; Thursday and Friday, 10 AM–9 PM (1st Friday of every month, 10 AM–5 PM); and Saturday and Sunday, 10 AM–5 PM. Admission is $15 adults, $13 seniors and $10 students, and free for members and children 17 and under. Free admission for families at ICA Play Dates (2 adults + children 12 and under) on last Saturday of the month. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at www.icaboston.org. Follow the ICA at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This past fall, ICA Teen Programs has had the chance for a couple fun trips over to East Boston. With the development of the ICA’s Watershed installation space on the horizon, it’s good to befriend our future neighbors — and it’s just a water taxi ride away!
In November, Fast Forward Thursday, our beginner filmmaking class, took a trip to Zumix, a youth based music organization. Students went live on the air to share the audio projects that they had been working on. The pieces were inspired by favorite film genres and artwork in the ICA galleries, and after each piece, students got a chance to discuss their thoughts and process with our Zumix Youth Radio program host, Dawry. Check out a recording of the broadcast.
Our Advanced Music Production class also had a chance to visit Zumix Radio in December to play some of the beats that they had composed in recent months on the radio. Listen to our beats and conversation!
Zumix also has a post about our visits on their blog.
Another recent East Boston crossover has been with Windy Films, a local indie production company. Both our Digital Photography: Special Focus class and Fast Forward Friday, our advanced filmmaking class, were lucky enough to participate in lighting workshops led by Tripp, one of the founders of Windy Films. Tripp also gave us a tour of the headquarters, showed us the various spaces and stages involved in the production of a film, and talked us through the genesis of a indie production company like Windy Films. Our field trips to Windy were fun and illuminating — especially when we got out the cameras and lights!
We look forward to participating even more with the East Boston neighborhoods as the launch of Watershed this summer approaches!
