The SANA Book Award is awarded every other year, with the most recent award given in 2023. The next award will be given in 2025 (for books published in 2023-2024).

2022-2023 Award Winner: Undocumented Motherhood

Undocumented Motherhood: Conversations on Love, Trauma, and Border Crossing, by Elizabeth Farfán-Santos (University of Texas Press)

“An intimate portrayal of the hardships faced by an undocumented family navigating the medical and educational systems in the United States.

Claudia Garcia crossed the border because her toddler, Natalia, could not hear. Leaving behind everything she knew in Mexico, Claudia recounts the terror of migrating alone with her toddler and the incredible challenges she faced advocating for her daughter’s health in the United States. When she arrived in Texas, Claudia discovered that being undocumented would mean more than just an immigration status—it would be a way of living, of mothering, and of being discarded by even those institutions we count on to care.

Elizabeth Farfán-Santos spent five years with Claudia. As she listened to Claudia’s experiences, she recalled her own mother’s story, another life molded by migration, the US-Mexico border, and the quest for a healthy future on either