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Local Author Series - What Does the Bread Say?

"What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History, and Papan."

Join local author Vanessa Garcia for a reading of her picture book "What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History, and Papan." Explore how bread "talks" to us and how stories are carried across generations through food and storytelling. After the story, spark your imagination with a coloring activity inspired by the book. Registration required. For more information and to register, please contact the branch at 305-442-8706 or capleybr@mdpls.org. Ages 4 yrs.+

Author's biography

Vanessa Garcia is a Cuban American multidisciplinary writer -- screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and journalist/essayist -- who has written and worked for Sesame Street, where she’s been nominated for an Emmy (Monster Meditation), and won two Telly Awards (Tamir on the Street). She’s also worked on Caillou; Behind the Beats (a French animated show about the history of music and how it’s all connected), and other shows.

She’s the author of the novel, White Light, which won an International Latino Book Award and was one of NPRs best books of 2015. Her first Picture Book for children, What the Bread Says, launched October 1, 2022.

Theatrically, she’s the author of The Amparo Experience, an immersive hit that People en Español called “Miami’s Hottest Ticket.” Other plays include: Sweet Goats & Blueberry Señoritas, which she co-wrote with Obama’s Inaugural poet, Richard Blanco; #Graced about a woman searching for what it means to be American right now, which premiered at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and Jenna & The Whale, about a town in Florida facing the suicide of a young man, which premiered at Ground Floor Theatre in Austin, Tx in 2023.

Her journalism, essays and thought pieces have appeared in The LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Review, ESPN, The Hill, Catapult, Narrativel.ly, and numerous other publications.

Vanessa also hosts a podcast about family with her own sister and mother called Never the Empty Nest, available anywhere you listen to podcasts.

She holds a PhD from the University of California Irvine in Creative Nonfiction. Her dissertation focused on Cuba.

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