Laredo-born and raised author Katie Gutierrez presented a special reading and talk from her best-selling and highly acclaimed debut novel, “More Than You’ll Ever Know,” during her visit at Texas A&M International University Tuesday, Oct. 11 in the Academic Innovation Center.
The presentation, titled “An Evening with the Author: Katie Gutierrez,” was organized by the TAMIU College of Arts and Sciences’ department of Humanities. The reading was followed by a book signing.
Gutierrez shared her influences on writing as she grew up in Laredo, originally attracted to horror and detective stories and exploring Latino/a voices in her later undergraduate and graduate program. She’s been practicing her craft ever since, she said, pointing out stops as a freelance writer and editor until her father encouraged her to take a year off and just write. And she did.
She detailed the approximately three-year journey to final publication of her first novel, and talked about her process, which is driven by research. For her debut novel, the research was crucial as its setting was in the 1980s…not a past she was remotely familiar with…including the real-life tragedy of the Mexico City earthquake in 1985.
During her visit, Gutierrez met with TAMIU students and talked about plans for the future given the success of her first novel…she’s at work on a second novel. The rights to her debut novel have already been optioned by Higher Ground Productions…run by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
She told the audience that coming home to Laredo and sharing a novel that draws from Laredo with a Laredo audience was truly a highlight of her career to date.
The novel, “More Than You’ll Ever Know,” has been recommended by the Washington Post, Parade, Good Housekeeping, Kirkus, NBC News, Audible, The Millions, Popsugar, Tribeza, Crime Reads, She Reads and more. Gutierrez’s novel was also a Good Morning America Book Club pick for June 2022.
Gutierrez is a National Magazine Award finalist whose writing has appeared in TIME, Harper’s Bazaar, the Washington Post, and Longreads. She has an MFA from Texas State University and lives in San Antonio with her husband and their two children.
