Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood by Paula Delgado-Kling
Synopsis:
In Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood, Paula Delgado-Kling takes us to her homeland, Colombia, where she finds answers to the country's drug wars by examining the life of Leonor, a former child soldier in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once a deadly cocaine-trafficking group on the U.S. State Department's terrorism list.
The author followed Leonor for nineteen years, from shortly after she was an active FARC member forced into sexual slavery by a commander thirty-four years her senior, through her rehabilitation and struggle with alcohol and drug addiction, to more recent days, as the mom of two girls.
Colombia's violence also touched the author's family. The idea for this nonfiction narrative began with the question: why was Paula Delgado-Kling's brother kidnapped, and why were his guards teenagers?
Praise for Leonor:
"Visceral reporting of Colombia drug gang trauma by a committed journalist." -Kirkus Reviews
"Leonor's story is tragic and unforgettable and offers a compelling perspective into Colombia's decades-long civil conflict." — Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League
"Delgado-Kling writes with courage, deep insight and empathy about an important global human rights issue." — Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank, Rails Under My Back, Holding Pattern, Stellar Places, Harbors & Spirits, and Fat Time and Other Stories
Author bio:
Paula Delgado-Kling holds degrees in comparative literature/French civilizations, international affairs, and creative writing from Brown University, Columbia University, and The New School, respectively. Leonor, for which she received two grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts, is her first book. Excerpts of this book have appeared in Narrative, The Literary Review, Pacifica Literary Review, and Happano.org in Japan. Her work for the Mexican monthly news magazine Gatopardo was nominated for the Simon Bolivar Award, Colombia's top journalism prize, and anthologized in Las Mejores Crónicas de Gatopardo (Random House Mondadori, 2006). Born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, Delgado-Kling now resides in New York City. To learn more, please visit PaulaDelgadoKling.com.
Purchase links:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org
About the Book
Title: Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood
Author: Paula Delgado-Kling
Release date: January 23, 2024
Publisher: OR Books
Price: $19.95 USD (paperback)
ISBN (paperback): 978-1682194478
Pages: 250
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