Click here to submit a question for the Q&A session at An Evening with Elvira K. Gonzalez taking place Thursday, October 24, 2024
ABOUT ELVIRA K. GONZALEZ
Elvira K. Gonzalez is a former track and field athlete and coach. She is a 3x UIL Track and Field State Championship qualifier and NCAA qualifier. She is a former coach at the University of Pennsylvania and The Armory in New York City.
Elvira is the author of Hurdles in the Dark. Her book was secured in a six-figure pre-emptive deal, marking the highest advance for a young adult non-fiction title in 2022. Her memoir has been featured on the Tamron Hall show, NPR, and People Magazine. Elvira has delivered presentations for the Brooklyn Book Festival, Texas Librarian Association Conference, Latinx Kidlit Book Festival and workshops to over 4,500 student-athletes and educators over the last decade.
Elvira is the visionary behind Writers Inkubator (WI), a literary management agency committed to supporting writers from the conception of their ideas through post-publication, alongside packaging intellectual property for the screen. She represents high profile clients in both literary and tv/film and has successfully assisted numerous first-time authors in securing publishing deals and current clients include Laredo native NBA coach Kaleb Canales, Will Smith’s creative executive Sid Patwa and more. Elvira is on a mission to champion literature that speaks to young adult audiences with a focus on stories about Culture, Sports, and Mental Health. Elvira also leads a non-profit aiming to empower student-athletes.
Today, she lives in Los Angeles, California but she happens to be a native of Laredo, Texas. For more information, visit www.elvirakgonzalez.com
Fun fact:
She even wrote some of her book right here at the Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library!
ABOUT HURDLES IN THE DARK
A Mexican-American teen girl dreams of winning an athletic scholarship against all odds in a Texas border town. This true story of survival, strength, and triumph is perfect for fans of Educated and Athlete A.
Twenty-four hours: that’s how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It’s 2006 and Elvira’s hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira’s life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas’s worst juvenile detention centers.
After Elvira’s released from juvie, she resolved to never go back. That’s when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles. Determined to win a track scholarship out of Laredo, Elvira begins breaking into the school, alone, at 5:30 in the morning to practice hurdling. Soon, she catches the attention of a renowned high school coach, an adult man in his 30s. As they train, their coach-student relationship begins to change, becoming sexual. At just seventeen years old, Elvira experiences the dangers many young athletes face, especially those who are marginalized. In spite of these towering obstacles, Elvira eventually propels herself to become one of the top ranked hurdlers in the USA and the first in her family to go to college.
This inspiring true story of grit, tenacity, and hope traces Elvira’s path as she overcomes impossible hurdles in her race to freedom.