ECC to host author Rose Castillo Guilbault

Rose Castillo Guilbault, a Mexican immigrant who rose to success as a writer, will be the next guest of the Elgin Community College Writers Center Reading Series on Thursday, Oct. 21. The free event will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Visual and Performing Arts Center, Room VPA 191D, on the main campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Guilbault details her journey in her acclaimed memoir, “Farmworker's Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America.

The book, which the San Francisco Chronicle named one of the best in 2005, chronicles her experiences growing up as a Mexican immigrant in a California farming community and her struggles with assimilating into American culture.

Guilbault later became a respected journalist, community leader, successful corporate executive and writer. Her memoir was featured in the exhibit “Latinas: The Spirit of California at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento in 2006. It also will appear in a new anthology of women writers titled “He Said What? Women Write About the Moment When Everything Changed, slated for release in May 2011. She is currently working on a book titled “The Latina's Guide to Succeeding in the Workplace.

A pre-reading dinner with the author will be held at 5:30 p.m. For reservations, contact Rachael Tecza at rtecza@elgin.edu or (847) 214-7578. Copies of Guilbault's work also will be available for sale and signing at the event.