The Eternal Forest, a debut memoir by Writing alum Elena Sheppard '20, will be making its way to bookshelves on September 30, 2025. Published by St. Martin's Press, The work is described as, “A memoir of the Cuban diaspora that follows one family’s exile from the island, through a lyrical exploration of memory, cultural mythology, and the history of Cuban-American relations.”
Sheppard’s mother fled from Cuba to New York City, where Sheppard was born and raised. In an article published in People, she wrote, “Perhaps it’s because my last name is my father’s, the exceptionally Anglo-Saxon Sheppard, but I’ve always felt imposter syndrome when it comes to calling myself Cuban-American. This anxiety reliably rears its head anytime I’m asked to fill out my ethnicity on a form—my pen or cursor hovering over ‘Hispanic or Latino’ as I wonder for the millionth time if I have the right to fill in that bubble even if my Spanish is imperfect, and my hometown is New York City.”
This questioning and curiosity about the history of her Cuban family is what led Sheppard to write the book. “I began with research: I studied the history of the island, and the history of my family—tracing the lives of as many family members as I could, and traveling to Cuba to follow their footsteps as well. I visited the home where my family had lived, exploring the spaces I had heard so much about in stories, walking under the shade of palm trees in my grandmother’s hometown. I visited relatives of mine who’d made the choice not to immigrate to the United States, learning more about their experience of being Cuban. I endeavored to understand the island and my family members on their own terms, not as they had been presented to me through the stories of others.”
The Eternal Forest was a work Sheppard began during her time at Columbia. “I started this project in the MFA program in 2018," she said, "and to see it transition from workshop pages, to thesis, to manuscript, to book, is really amazing.” She is thrilled to finally have this long-time work out in the world.
Elena Sheppard's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, Vogue, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and W, as well as on NBC and MSNBC. She has been a writer-in residence at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and taught creative nonfiction and journalism in Columbia’s High School Summer Program. She lives in New York with her husband and children.
