Join PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author Brando Skyhorse in conversation with Dani Trujillo, a fiction storyteller, as he discusses his latest novel, My Name is Iris, a gripping tale of identity and survival in a dystopian America, where one woman's struggle against societal exclusion and a surreal, growing wall offers a profound commentary on contemporary issues of race and belonging.

Iris’s life takes a surreal turn when a wall, visible only to her and her daughter, begins to grow around their home. As she grapples with societal exclusion and increasing desperation, Iris is pushed to the brink in a world that eerily mirrors contemporary issues of identity and belonging. Skyhorse’s narrative is a sharp satire of modern American excess and surveillance, with an atmosphere that grows increasingly Kafkaesque. The novel's biting commentary on racial politics and the immigrant experience resonates deeply, making it a poignant and thought-provoking read. 

Brando Skyhorse is an award-winning writer whose debut novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, received the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. His emoir, Take This Man, was named one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Nonfiction Books of 2014. His latest novel, My Name is Iris, about a Mexican-American has been selected as SFPL's Sept./Oct. 2024 On the Same Page book. Skyhorse, a recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center fellowship, teaches English and creative writing at Indiana University Bloomington. He holds degrees from Stanford University and the MFA Writers’ Workshop program at UC Irvine.

Dani Trujillo is a fiction storyteller born  of Pueblo and Mexican descent. The desert is her happy place and serves as inspiration for many of her works. She holds a Bachelor of Anthropology from the University of Hawai‘i and a Master of Forensic Behavioral Science from Alliant International University. She currently resides on the East Coast with her husband, two spooky black cats, an elder chihuahua named after jeans, and the plethora
of ghosts inhabiting her 1949 home.

Connect:  

Brando Skyhorse – Website  

Dani Trujillo - Website | Dani Trujillo - Instagram