Events › Meet Jaime Cortez, Author of Gordo

On Thursday, November 16th at 6:30 PM, San Mateo County Libraries is delighted to welcome local author Jaime Cortez, author of the funny, compassionate short story collection Gordo. Register to receive your Zoom invitation for this virtual author talk.

Shedding profound natural light on the inner lives of migrant workers, Jaime Cortez’s humorous, heartwarming, and heartbreaking debut story collection, based on his own real-life experiences, gives voice to a community of migrant farm workers in the West, and in the process broadens the scope of American literature.

These scenes from Steinbeck Country, seen so intimately from within, are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious matters – who belongs to America and how are they treated? Written with balance and poise, Cortez braids together elegant and inviting stories about life on a California farm worker camp, in essence redefining what all-American means.

Jaime Cortez is a writer and visual artist based in Watsonville, California, and the San Francisco Bay Area. His first short story collection, "Gordo," was published in 2021 by Black Cat, an imprint of Grove Atlantic Press.  “Gordo” received national acclaim from reviewers at the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The book was nominated for the Carnegie Medal of Excellence in Fiction, and the Lambda Literary Award, and was named a best book of the year by National Public Radio and Bookpage. Cortez received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and his MFA in visual art from UC Berkeley.

REGISTER HERE