One Book One Community: Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s Woman of Light

Woman of Light is my heartsong to my ancestors.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine

One Book One Community Events

Main Event: Community Celebration with Author

Wednesday, August 14th, 7pm, Park City Library, Jim Santy Auditorium, Free

Celebrate the journey of reading Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s book together and listen to her speak about her book. Kali Fajardo-Anstine will be signing books afterward. Bring your own book or purchase a copy from Dolly’s Bookstore. 

It’s Written in the Leaves: The Art of Tea Leaf Reading

Tuesday, July 30th, 6:30pm, Summit County Library’s Kimball Junction Branch, Free, Registration Encouraged

Tasseography is the art of reading tea leaves, and it has been used for centuries as a tool for meditation and self-analysis. Join us to learn more about the history and tradition of this art, how it ties into Woman of Light (the main character practices tasseography), and maybe do a little tea leaf reading of your own.

“To Die in the Desert” Film Screening

Monday, August 5th, 7pm, Park City Library, Jim Santy Auditorium, Free

A free screening of “To Die in the Desert” (91 minutes) that parallels themes of the 2024 One Book One Community book Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. Free popcorn is provided. 

About the film: Northern Mexico is home to the last singers of Cardenche Song, a nostalgic melody of love, wailing and tragedy. This is a journey in search of this musical tradition, rooted in cotton farmers and miners now on the verge of extinction. Cardenche is sung a cappella in groups of three and has been shared from generation to generation. It takes the name of a cactus whose thorn — like love, the Cardenche singers note — goes in too easily but hurts like hell to take out. To Die in the Desert (A morir a los desiertos) is a dazzling new documentary that features heartbreaking musical performances that capture why this howl of a singing technique is so unique and important. Directed by Marta Ferrer. 

Why Woman of Light?

Woman of Light’s scope called Willa Cather to mind—but Fajardo-Anstine shines a spotlight on characters whose stories often fall into the shadows. When I turned the last page, I was still in that gray January, but somehow the world felt a little bigger, and a little more hopeful.

Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You

When Rachel Spohn, Summit County Library’s Kamas Valley Branch Manager, was asked why she suggested this book, she said, “The storytelling angle is everything for me–the importance of uncovering lost or underrepresented narratives as a way of staking a claim in a world that is actively structured to prevent it.

In this way, Woman of Light is a historical novel that feels very present: Luz’s self-discovery happens concurrently with American self-mythologizing and narratives of ‘the West.’ The book upends this traditional, narrow perspective by giving voice to the people forced to the margins who are nonetheless integral to the country’s character and history. We’re asked to consider what responsibility we have to recognize each other’s stories, and how we go about doing that. The Western setting and timely exploration of these ideas speak to our own diverse Summit County community, and I really look forward to the discussion this book inspires.”

Woman of Light has won and been nominated for many awards. The novel won the Reading in the West Award in Fiction and was the winner of Women Writing in the West Willa Award in Historical Fiction.

Synopsis of Woman of Light

There is one every generation, a seer who keeps the stories.

Luz “Little Light” Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930s Denver, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland in the nearby Lost Territory. Luz recollects her ancestors’ origins, how her family flourished, and how they were threatened. She bears witness to the sinister forces that have devastated her people and their homelands for generations. In the end, it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion.

Written in Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s singular voice, the wildly entertaining and complex lives of the Lopez family fill the pages of this multigenerational western saga. Woman of Light is a transfixing novel about survival, family secrets, and love–filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom are just as special, memorable, and complicated as our beloved heroine, Luz.

About Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the nationally bestselling author of the novel Woman of Light and the widely acclaimed short story collection Sabrina & Corina, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of an American Book Award. She is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Fajardo-Anstine is the 2022–2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University.

Fajardo-Anstine is also a well-regarded speaker and has delivered lectures and keynotes across the country for institutions such as Princeton University, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, Tulane University, Mississippi State University, PEN America, and elsewhere. Her books have been included in many One Book One Community reading programs.

Born in Denver, Colorado, she is the second eldest of seven siblings. Fajardo-Anstine dropped out of high school weeks into her senior year, earning her GED and going on to graduate with a BA in English and Minor in Chicana/o Studies from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She holds an MFA from the University of Wyoming and worked for over a decade as an independent bookseller at West Side Books in North Denver.