Summer 2022
Saw this Magritte-esque blue sky framed against an arch in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor and asked a stranger to snap a picture.
Summer 2022 was magic.
Defining Diego podcast
Laurie Stern is an adoptive mother and reporter who spent 20+ years recording her and her husband’s experience adopting their son, Diego, from Guatemala. Defining Diego is a 10-part podcast that explores the family’s journey against the larger backdrop of having roots in two cultures, reunion with birth family, questions of identity, and the history of international adoption in general and Guatemalan adoption in particular.
Defining Diego is definitely worth a listen for anyone with an interest in intercountry adoption. Listen here.
Defining Diego podcast Read More »
Mamalita on Audible
If you feel like listening to me tell you a story, my memoir Mamalita is available on Audible.
Publishers Weekly called Mamalita “harrowing and moving,” while Marin Magazine said: “Regardless of age or intent, this is a riveting read.”
Quick note: The recording engineer described my narration as “performative.” So if you prefer a listening experience less dramatic, Mamalita may not be the audiobook for you.
Otherwise, thank you for taking this journey with me!
Mamalita on Audible Read More »
Somewhere Sisters
Up next for our adoption book group is Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity and the Meaning of Family by journalist and UC Irvine professor Erika Hayasaki.
Hayasaki traces the lives of identical twin girls born in Vietnam and raised on opposite sides of the world–Ha in-country with her biological aunt and aunt’s partner and Isabella in Chicago with her adoptive parents and non-biological sister, adopted from the same orphanage. The twins reunite as preteens, and Hayasaki spent hundreds of hours interviewing them and their birth and adoptive families. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “An engaging portrait of intersected lives.” One chapter in and I’m intrigued.
Looking forward to the February discussion with my Bay Area Guatmamas.