Meet Debut Author Elena Sheppard!

About Elena Sheppard

ELENA SHEPPARD is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, Vogue, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and W, as well as on NBC and MSNBC. She has been a writer-in residence at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and taught creative nonfiction and journalism in Columbia’s High School Summer Program. She lives in New York with her husband and children.

About The Eternal Forest

Cifuentes, Cuba, in the 1950s was nearly idyllic—at least that’s how Elena’s grandparents, Rosita and Gustavo Delgado, remember the Eden they left. When Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, Gustavo was placed on a list of political undesirables, and by the end of 1960, the couple and their two daughters had fled to Florida, with nothing more than five dollars, and a suitcase each. The Delgados were certain they would return to Cifuentes within a few months, after Castro’s reign had run its course. But they never went back, and a piece of each of their identities became frozen in that moment.In 1987, Elena was the first in Gustavo and Rosita’s family to be born in the United States, but through the memories that lived on in her grandmother’s mind, Cuba became the foundation of her childhood. Elena takes us inside these stories, and as we travel back and forth across the narrow Florida Straits that separate Miami and Havana, we also weave between past and present, to discover family secrets that are on the brink of being lost to time.In lyrical yet unflinching prose, The Eternal Forest follows one family’s exile from their homeland to tell the larger political story of the Cuban Revolution and its diaspora. Through a spellbinding blend of cultural myth, historical texts, and personal narrative, The Eternal Forest probes inheritance, memory, and what it means to yearn for an island you can never fully know.

About Writer's Block Bookstore

Serving the Orlando area since 2014, Writer’s Block Bookstore is Central Florida’s full-service independent bookstore with locations in Winter Park and in Winter Garden. Writer’s Block’s commitment to literacy, reading, and community engagement for life-long learning is showcased through its events, book clubs, virtual book fairs, and community partnerships. Specializing in new releases, New York Times best-sellers, and unique gifts, the store hosts virtual and in-store author events with nationally recognized authors and offers discounts for educators and loyalty club members.

About Winter Park Library

The new Winter Park Library is a partner of Writer’s Block Bookstore that hosts live events. The library has a beautiful new home that is getting regional and national attention and is an architectural landmark designed by Sir David Adjaye with Adjaye & Associates (who also designed the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington D.C.). The library is situated within a 23-acre park with an amphitheater, 125-seat step-style auditorium, 250-seat event space, and a state-of-the-art recording studio.

Host or Publisher Writer's Block Bookstore