RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – The Library of Virginia will present a free talk with Dr. Emma Violand-Sánchez, an educator and advocate for immigrants and refugees, and writer David Bearinger, the co-author of Violand-Sánchez’s memoir, “Dreams and Shadows: An Immigrant’s Journey” on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, from 12 to 1 p.m. Registration is required at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14480087.
 

In 1961, Violand-Sánchez was a senior in high school when she left her home in Bolivia and arrived in Virginia. In the subsequent decades, she would suffer a tragic loss, raise two children as a single mother, and become a transformative figure in American public education and in service to immigrants and refugees, advocating for bilingual education and expanding opportunities for immigrant students and their families.
 

A testament to the power of suffering and faith and to the challenges women face across the world, “Dreams and Shadows” is also a mediation on politics, class, the immigrant experience, acculturation as a lifelong process, and the importance of maintaining bicultural identity against the myth of the American “melting pot.”

David Bearinger, an independent public humanities consultant and writer, retired as the senior director of Grants and Global Virginia Programs at Virginia Humanities.

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