In conversation with AJ Hikes

Paola Mendoza is a proud immigrant from Colombia. She is an award-winning filmmaker, best-selling author and has organized some of the largest and most impactful cultural and political movements in the past decade, including the Women's March, Families Belong Together & Trans Prom. She uses art to disrupt and disarm, to change our thinking, and to advance movements for immigrants, reproductive justice and the LGBTQ community. Her work has been supported by The Ford Foundation, Just Films, Pop Culture Collaborative, Opportunity Agenda, and Race Forward, among many others. She co-authored the New York Times bestseller Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World. Her YA novel, Sanctuary, was a critical darling and is currently being adapted into a motion picture. Her most recent YA title, SOLIS (the sequel to Sanctuary), will be released in the Fall. Paola's work has been published in The New York Times, USA Today, Huffington Post, Glamour, InStyle, Elle and Teen Vogue.

Her films Igualada, Entre Nos, On the Outs & Free Like the Birds have garnered international and critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival just to name a few.

Paola is a founder of The Resistance Revival Chorus, The Meteor and The Soze Agency..

Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night!

(recorded 10/10/2024)