For your reading list

The book ''Every Day We Get More Illegal'' on a blue rug

Credit: Arianna Rebolini

Every Day We Get More Illegal by Juan Felipe Herrera

From 2015 to 2017, Juan Felipe Herrera was the United States Poet Laureate — the first Latino to be appointed — and throughout those two years, while traveling the country and reflecting upon the experience shortly after, he wrote about the lives and struggles of Latin American immigrants he encountered. Those poems became Every Day We Get More Illegal, which reads as both a condemnation of America's sins, and a plea for it to recognize them. But though Herrera — the son of migrant farmers — is writing as a witness, he is also speaking to and about these communities with the tenderness of someone who lives among them.

One of the book's most striking poems is "You Just Don't Talk About It," a powerful, emotional, and breathtaking — I mean that literally, as in the momentum of the two-page unpunctuated verse had me gasping at its end — litany of America's abuses against immigrants; and a relentless attack on its ability to dismiss the trauma it inflicts on marginalized people, while benefiting from their labor. Herrera grabs your face and won't let you look away: "you don't care about the trans teens the taste of acid the taste of plutonium about the nugget of larva of decay in our milk and juice and you don't care about the pesticide skin of uncle Timoteo hauling Mendota cotton and melons on the hammer lane of 99," he writes. It's a perfect encapsulation of much of the collection, which is furious, evocative, and urgent, until, with a sort of quiet peace, Herrera opens the book up to his hope for a better, kinder future, and graciously invites the reader into his vision of it. Get your copy. — Arianna Rebolini

This Week in Virtual Book Events:

Oct. 5–Oct. 10

TODAY: Sunday, Oct. 4

Brooklyn Book Festival's official virtual festival day, featuring:
- Matt Gallagher (Empire City), N.K. Jemisin (The City We Became), and Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby) on contemporary urban American life. More info.
- Bernice L. McFadden (Sugar), Emma Straub (All Adults Here), and Karolina Waclawiak (Life Events) on what happens when characters leave their families and comfort zones to encounter different ways of living. More info.
- Eula Biss (Having and Being Had), Imani Perry (Breathe: A Letter to My Sons), journalist Ada Calhoun (Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis), and economist Stephanie Kelton (The Deficit Myth) on who is and isn’t able to prosper in today's American Dream. More info.
- And much more. Full schedule here.

Monday, Oct. 5

Jill McCorkle (Hieroglyphics), Margaret Renkl (Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss), and Lee Smith (Blue Marlin) discuss southern storytelling — part of the Southern Book Festival, 6:30 p.m. CT, more info.
Vanessa Riley (A Duke, The Lady and a Baby), Tash Skilton (Ghosting), Priscilla Oliveras (Island Affair), Kristen McKanagh (Snowball's Christmas), and Marina Adair (Romeantically Challenged) discuss cozy romances — hosted by Print Bookstore, 7 p.m. ET, more info.

Tuesday, Oct. 6

Tiffany D. Jackson (Grown), Hayley Krischer (Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf), Courtney Summers (Sadie), and Ashley Woodfolk (When You Were Everything) discuss the angry, "unlikeable" teenage girl as protagonist of her own story — hosted by McNally Jackson, 6 p.m. ET, more info.
Tana French presents The Searcher, in conversation with Dennis Lehane — hosted by Community Bookstore, 5 p.m. ET, more info.

Wednesday, Oct. 7

V.E. Schwab discusses The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue with Rebecca Roanhoarse — hosted by Books & Books, 6 p.m. ET, more info.
Maaza Mengiste discusses The Shadow King with Hannah Giorgis — hosted by Powell's, 6 p.m. PT, more info.

Thursday, Oct. 8

Kevin Kwan discusses Sex and Vanity with Amy Tan — part of Litquake Festival, 7 p.m. PT, more info.
Milkweed Editions hosts their annual Book Lovers Ball, featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass), Aimee Nezhukumatathil (World of Wonders), Ada Limón (The Carrying) and other Milkweed authors who will share stories as well as sneak peeks at what they are working on now — 6:30 p.m. CT, more info.

Friday, Oct. 9

Kalynn Bayron (Cinderella Is Dead), Sarah Henning (The Princess Will Save You), and Amy Tintera (All These Monsters) discuss princesses and warriors in their new books — part of the Southern Festival of Books, 12:45 p.m. CT, more info.
Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt discuss The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, moderated by Seth Godin — hosted by Greenlight Bookstore, 7:30 p.m. ET, more info.

Saturday, Oct. 10

Juan Felipe Herrera discusses Every Day We Get More Illegal with Jericho Brown — part of Litquake Festival, 5 p.m. PT, more info.
Ben Lerner discusses The Topeka School with Ocean Vuong — hosted by Politics & Prose, 6 p.m. ET, more info.

And many more! Check out the full list here.