Conversation with Cecilia Fernandez, author of Leaving Little Havana

Cecila Fernandez, author of Leaving Little Havana speaks candidly about her writing process and her decisions to include culture, language, politics, religion and music as a backdrop to her personal narrative.

Leaving Little Havana is a powerful life-story that begins with 6 year old Cecilia and her family fleeing their comfortable middle-class home in Cuba as exiles and landing in the low-income neighborhood of Miami's Little Havana.

In the States, her father maintained romantic relationships outside of his marriage, neglected his family and focused on rebuilding his medical career. Her mother spiraled into mental illness while trying to hold onto her husband and family. Cecilia rebelled against both parents and embraced the counter-culture of the '60s while trying to find herself and a way out of Little Havana.