WHO + WHAT: An IRL EVENT with author, film director, activist, and artist, Paola Mendoza, as we discuss her debut novel, Solis. Paola will be joined in conversation with Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, Chase Strangio.

WHEN: Doors at 6pm, event starts at 7pm.

WHERE: Democracy Center at the Japanese American Museum (100 North Central Ave, LA, CA 90012)

HOW:

• IRL TICKET RSVP W/ SIGNED BOOK: This ticket guarantees a seat including a book copy available for pick up at the event.

• FREE *RSVP*: IRL Event entry based on capacity. Limited Signed copies will be available for purchase during the event. Due to our limited capacity, please only RSVP if you plan to attend

SIGNED BOOK ONLY: Can’t make it IRL but want a signed copy? Order directly from our site!

Directions

By Car

• From the 101 Freeway (US-101) Southbound: Take exit 2B for Los Angeles St south 0.1 miles to E 1st St. Make a left on E 1st St. JANM is on your left .3 miles.
• From the 101 Freeway (US-101) Northbound: Take exit 2B toward Alameda St/Union Station. Left at Alameda St. JANM is on your right 0.4 miles.

Nearby public parking lots

• City of Los Angeles, Lot 2 at 300 E. Temple St.
• Japanese Village Plaza at 335 E. 2nd St.

Public Transportation

• JANM is directly across the street from the brand new Little Tokyo/Arts District Station served by Metro light rail lines A and E.
• LADOT Little Tokyo/Arts District Dash A stops at 1st St. and Central Ave. right across the street from the museum.

Check metro.net for bus and rail maps or call 323 GoMetro (323.466.3876). Plan your trip by visiting Metro’s trip planner.

• Please email us at info@reparations.club if you have any additional needs, questions, or accessibility concerns.

From the authors of Sanctuary comes a haunting near-future companion tale about undocumented immigrants subjected to deadly experiments in a government labor camp and the four courageous rebels who set into place a daring plan to liberate them.

The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine in search of the destructive and toxic–but potentially world-changing–mineral aqualinium. With this mineral, the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather–ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the mineral or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.

Told by four narrators–Rania, Jess (a former teenage Deportation Force officer), Vali, and Vali’s mother, Liliana–Solis is about the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand and fight for freedom.

Praise for Solis

“Set in an alarmingly near future, Mendoza’s sequel to her novel Sanctuary describes a nightmarish United States in which all immigrants, regardless of current status, are categorized as illegal…The plot is tautly written and the pace increases rapidly toward the climax.”–Booklist

“Resistance and a fight for freedom in the face of unspeakable horrors…the characters are three-dimensional, and their deep connection and care for one another are highlights of the story. A gripping concept…”–Kirkus Reviews

Paola Mendoza is an author, film director, activist, and artist working at the leading edge of human rights. A co-founder of the Women’s March, she served as its artistic director. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Glamour, Elle and InStyle. Paola is a co-founder of The Resistance Revival Chorus, The Soze Agency and The Meteor.

Called a “beacon of hope for transgender people around the country,” Chase Strangio is Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Chase litigates extensively in federal and state courts across the country and defends the rights of LGBTQ people before state legislative bodies.