NEA Big Read: Infinite Country Book Group
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Audience: Adults, Seniors
Join us for an engaging conversation with author Johan Alexander and Dr. Stefano Tijerina about Infinite Country and the historical socio-political climate in Colombia.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 817 8462 8472
Passcode: 169595
Dial in: +1 646 876 9923
About Dr. Tijerina
Dr. Stefano Tijerina teaches in the areas of international business, comparative business, and ethics. Prior to his academic career he worked in the areas of international banking and non-profit management.
His current research centers on the business dynamics of the Western Hemisphere from a historical perspective. He is the author of Circumventing Empires: Canadian Business Expansion in Colombia, 1767-1968, and has published articles in the Journal of Canadian Studies, American Review of Canadian Studies, Iperstoria, Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Desafios and Perspectivas Colombo Canadienses, as well as chapters in several edited volumes including Mercados en Común: Estudios sobre Conexiones Transnacionales, Negocios y Diplomacia en las América (siglo XIX y XX) and Working for Oil: Comparative Social Histories of Labor in Petroleum. He is a contributor to the New Economic Papers-History Blog (NEP-HIS Blog), ActiveHistory.ca. In 2017 he was awarded the First Christopher Kobrak Research Fellowship from the Canadian Business History Association.
About the Series » Private: NEA Big Read: Infinite Country Book Group
Join Portland Public Library, the University of Southern Maine, and NEA Big Read: Portland for a series of five book discussions on Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. These discussions will be facilitated by local author Johan Alexander and feature special guests.
If you would like a free copy of Infinite Country, please complete this form or call 207-871-1700 x.728. 
While each session will cover different themes of the book, you do not have to attend every discussion in order to participate.
The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. You can find the complete schedule of NEA Big Read: Portland events here.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest.
About Johan Alexander
Johan Alexander was born in Medellin, Colombia. The recipient of an Ashley Bryan Fellowship from the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in 2021, he is a member of the 2022 Periplus Collective cohort, as well as a Maine Lit Fest Fellow for 2022. His story “My Little Lola” was recently published in LatineLit Magazine. A musician and community organizer, he lives in Portland, Maine.
About Infinite Country
Talia is being held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in the forested mountains of Columbia after committing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been warranted. She urgently needs to get out and get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the Untied States are waiting for her. If she misses her flight, she might also miss her chance to finally be reunited with her family in the north. How this family came to occupy two different countries, two different worlds, comes into focus like twists of a kaleidoscope.
Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engle, herself a dual citizen and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to all five family members as they navigate the particulars of their respective circumstances. Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality of the undocumented in the United States, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family – for whom every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.