Mt. Pleasant Library will be hosting Jonathan Blitzer at 6pm to discuss his new book Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here. Afterward, there will be a reception and book signing at La Clinica del Pueblo.
You can preorder your copy of the book from Lost City here to pick it up at the reception. (Please select "Pickup at store" and add an order comment in your online checkout that you'll pick it up at La Casa.)
Book reading & panel discussion + Q&A
6:00-7:00PM
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library
3160 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20010
(Virtual livestream available. Please reserve a "Livestream" ticket to receive the link.)
Book signing and reception
7:00-8:30pm
La Clínica del Pueblo’s “La Casa”
3166 Mt Pleasant St. NW, Washington, DC 20010
This event is free, with limited seating. Please reserve a ticket HERE.
About the book:
In his newly released book, Everyone Who is Gone is Here, Jon Blitzer weaves the powerful human narrative of the relationship between the US and Central America, policy, and the impacts on immigration in the U.S. He sheds light on the complexities and human cost, how these struggles came to be, why they persist, and what we might do now to address tensions and bring humanity to our current situation.
Blitzer takes readers on a decades long journey through the compelling lives of a few central characters, featuring Juan Romagoza, one of La Clinica’s founding Directors prominently. Through the pages of this book, we see that even through incredible and persistent personal hardship, Juan Romagoza repeatedly responds to suffering around him by organizing community to treat the medical and mental health needs of those caught up in and fleeing devastating conflict. In the 1980’s he led efforts to form La Clínica del Pueblo to meet the needs of Central American immigrants here in our capitol. Over forty years later, La Clínica continues in that same spirit as we respond to the issues and challenges faced by Latin American immigrants and their families – and community has always been at the heart of that response.
Jon Stewart interviews Jon Blitzer on The Daily Show, March 2024
Bilingual event with interpretation available in both Spanish & English.
“Sometimes, arguments erupted at La Clínica when a patient revealed he’d served in the military. Many volunteers felt these men didn’t deserve treatment, but Juan disagreed. La Clínica had higher responsibilities, he said, in his gentle yet implacable way...”