On Wednesday, October 27 at 7pm, The Clapp Memorial Library is joining the Tewksbury Public Library in hosting author Noe Alvarez for a presentation on his latest book, Spirit Run: A 6000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land, hosted through Zoom. Spirit Run was a named a MUST READ BOOK in the Massachusetts Center of the Book’s Mass Book Awards.
About The Book: Noe Álvarez, the son of working-class Mexican immigrants, fled a life of labor in fruit-packing plants to run a four-month-long Indigenous marathon from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. He’ll discuss his harrowing journey — overcoming hunger, thirst, and fear, as well as the dangers he encountered, including stone-throwing motorists and a mountain lion. Alvarez will also share his reimagining of North America and his place in it, exploring Indigenous and working-class humanity in a capitalist society where oil extraction, deforestation, and substance abuse wreck communities.
About The Author: Noe Alvarez holds degrees in philosophy and creative writing from Whitman College and Emerson College, respectively. Alvarez studied conflict analysis, peacemaking, and conflict resolution at American University and in Northern Ireland, received a fellowship at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and researched U.S. drug policy, military aid, and human rights issues in Colombia’s Putumayo jungles. He lives in Boston, where, until recently, he worked as a security officer at one of the nation’s oldest libraries, the Boston Athenæum. Learn more about Alvarez HERE.