Alma Cruz wishes her willful teenage daughter, Luz, could know the truth about her past, but there are things Luz can never know about the journey Alma took to the US to find her missing father. In 2000--three years after the disappearance of her father, who left Oaxaca to work on farms in California--Alma sets out on a perilous trek north with her sister, Rosa. What happens once she reaches the US is a journey from despair to hope. Timeless in its depiction of the depths of family devotion and the blaze of first love, Luz conveys, with compassion and insight, the plight of those desperate to cross the US border. (She Writes Press)

Debra Thomas is originally from upstate New York, but has lived in Southern California for most of her adult life. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s in English from California State University, Northridge, and attended the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. She has taught literature and writing at a Los Angeles public high school and English as a Second Language to adults from all over the world. Her experience as an advocate for immigrant and refugee rights led her to write Luz. She is currently at work on her second novel.

Gayle Brandeis is the author of the novel in poems, From Many Restless Concerns and the memoir, The Art of Misdiagnosis: Surviving My Mother's Suicide. Her essays, poems and short fiction have been widely published in venues such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Rumpus, Longreads, O, The Oprah Magazine, and more, and have received numerous honors. She teaches in the BA and low residency MFA programs at Sierra Nevada College, where she was named Distinguished Visiting Professor/Writer in Residence, and the low residency MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Gayle served as Inlandia Literary Laureate from 2012-2014 and was deemed a Writer Who Makes a Difference by The Writer Magazine. She lives in North Lake Tahoe.

Alma Luz Villanueva is the author of Desire, among other books. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and teaches in the MFA in creative writing program at Antioch University, Los Angeles

Debra Thomas presents "Luz" with Gayle Brandeis & Alma Luz Villanueva