Every year since 2009, Whatcom County residents are united by a single story through Whatcom READS.
Whatcom READS fosters countywide engagement, and Claire McElroy, Whatcom READS Coordinator and steering committee member, thinks the importance of this cannot be overstated.
“The more we communicate with one another, and the more we learn about each other, the stronger our community becomes,” she said.
The selection for 2026 is Javier Zamora’s “Solito: A Memoir.” It’s the personal story of Zamora’s immigration from El Salvador to the United States in 1999, when he was just 9 years old.
A number of special events lead up to Zamora’s visit to Whatcom County, beginning on Jan. 17 with a film screening of “Desert Angel” at the Pickford Film Center. It’s the story of another migrant, Rafael Larraenza, who made his journey 40 years ago.
Amelia Martinez of the Lynden Library and Diana Antaño of the Everson Library will present a hands-on learning experience celebrating the iconic art of Fernando Llort, one of El Salvador’s most renowned artists, from 10:30 a.m. to noon Feb. 21 at the Everson Library.
In Celebrating Salvadoran Art Through Painting, participants will learn about the story behind Llort’s art and how it spread from a small rural town to the rest of El Salvador and beyond. Participants will create their own art on a wooden object to take home.
Martinez and Antaño’s program focuses on Salvadoran culture and Llort’s art style but is also about self-reflection and appreciation, they said. Llort combines folk and native styles to showcase El Salvador’s local traditions and culture. Many of Llort’s pieces illustrate rural life and the wild landscapes of El Salvador.
Similarly, Javier Zamora explores this cultural identity through words. Martinez and Antaño describe the memoir as “raw and authentic, humanizing the experiences of many Latin American immigrants.”
Zamora’s harrowing story depicts traveling from Guatemala into Mexico through the Sonoran Desert in the hot sun and the dark of night with a group of other migrants who were strangers to him, evading deportation and not having enough food or water in extreme temperatures.
Zamora’s father left El Salvador in the early ‘90s when Zamora was an infant because of the Salvadoran Civil Wars. His mother joined her husband in 1995, and Zamora stayed in El Salvador with his grandparents.
Bethany Hoglund, deputy library director at Bellingham Public Library and Whatcom READS board chair, said that Zamora’s story provided a window into a life and experience that people in our community have had but have likely kept hidden.
“This book highlights the forced resilience of immigrants and what strength, grit, heartbreak and pain they carry every day,” she said.
Zamora lives in Tucson, Ariz., where he volunteers with Salvavision, The Kino Border Initiative and The Florence Project.
At 7 p.m. March 12 at Ferndale’s Pioneer Pavilion, Zamora will talk about his book and his current life. Registration is advised.
He’ll also speak with former Washington State poet laureate Claudia Castro Luna at 7 p.m. March 13 at Mount Baker Theatre. Bushwick Book Club Northwest will open the event with original music composed by local musicians and inspired by themes from “Solito.”
The event is free but tickets are required and can be obtained via the Mount Baker Theatre website.
Jennifer McFarlane Harris, executive director of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility — IDEA — at Whatcom Community College, and Andrea Romero, a tenured English professor and faculty coordinator for IDEA, are guiding this year’s Equity Project, where participants engage in social justice education, learning how to more effectively serve diverse students across the campus community.
Each year the Equity Project selects a book to read and discuss, and this year, “Solito” offers opportunities to collaborate with Whatcom READS and to learn about migration patterns, family structures and personal journeys.
The “American Memoir” presentation at 4 p.m. Jan. 29 in Heiner Hall room 208 at WCC will include a talk by McFarlane Harris exploring the genre of American memoir. It will discuss what makes first-person narration compelling, as well as why multiethnic literature is an important part of the American experience. Romero will then extend the conversation to the subgenre of cajitas, or “little boxes,” which are vignettes in the vein of poet Sandra Cisneros.
“Solito” is particularly relevant for our community, said McFarlane Harris, because WCC earned a three-year Washington College Spark grant to create Latine Studies, highlighting cultural storytelling that bridges lived experiences with interdisciplinary courses.
Hoglund said that she viewed Zamora’s story “with both horror and awe for what Javier, and so many immigrants and refugees, endure in the plight for freedom and safety.” She added that Zamora’s experience and his book “will be a mirror for our community members who have similar experiences and who can find belonging, understanding and comradery within the pages with Javier and his family, both given and chosen.”
“For me,” she added, “this looked like tears, questions, heartbreak, hope and ultimately empathy.”
Dawn Hawley is executive director of library, eLearning and academic support at Bellingham Technical College and has been involved with Whatcom READS since its inception in 2009. Her hope for is that attendees gain a deeper understanding of the motivations and experiences of migrants coming to the United States.
“I also hope people will be moved, as I was, to imagine their own families — their own children — in circumstances similar to Javier Zamora’s, and to carry that understanding forward as empathy and compassion for migrant communities.”
— By Margaret Bikman
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Students lead in celebration of Hispanic heritage,” Oct. 27, 2025
• “Award honors community organizer, rights advocate,” Sept. 19, 2025
• “Community stands in solidarity with immigration advocate detained by ICE,” March 27, 2025
• “Whatcom READS builds a community of readers,” Jan. 31, 2025
• “State book award finalists include four Whatcom authors,” Sept. 5, 2023