Texas Tribune journalist Roxanna Asgarian’s new book is both a deeply-reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children and a searing indictment of the American foster care system.
Her reporting uncovers persistent racial biases and corruption as children of color are separated from their birth parents without proper cause. In conversation with The New York Times Magazine writer Pam Colloff, Asgarian will detail how she broke the story of this Texas case. Book signing to follow.
Join The Texas Tribune at 4:00 p.m. Central in Austin for a conversation with Pamela Colloff, staff writer for The New York Times magazine and author Roxanna Asgarian.
There will be an author signing after the interview from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Books will be available to purchase onsite from BookPeople.
Read an excerpt from, We were once a family: A story of love, death and child removal in America.
Doors will open at 3:30 p.m. at the Tribune’s Studio 919, 919 Congress Ave., Sixth Floor, in Austin. The hourlong conversation will begin at 4 p.m. Parking will not be provided. Street and garage parking as well as ride-sharing are recommended.
This in-person event will be livestreamed for virtual attendees and will be available to watch on demand afterward at texastribune.org/events.
Roxanna Asgarian is the law and courts reporter for the Texas Tribune. Previously, she covered the child welfare and criminal justice systems as an independent reporter in Houston. Her first book, “We Were Once A Family: Love, Death, and Child Removal in America,” a deeply reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children and a searing indictment of the American foster care system, her book was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in March 2023. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Roxanna got her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and her master’s degree from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Roxanna is based in Dallas.
Pamela Colloff is a reporter at ProPublica and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, where she covers criminal justice. Prior to that, she was a staff writer at Texas Monthly. She is the winner of two National Magazine Awards: for Feature Writing in 2013, and for Reporting in 2020. She is currently at work on a book for Random House about a death penalty case in Florida.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.
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Email us at events@texastribune.org
Sab Pell is senior director of product marketing at Openform, where her goal is to help people unlock the power of in-person events. Prior to Openform, she led global product marketing teams. Sab Pell is senior director of product marketing at Openform, where her goal is to help people unlock the power of in-person events. Prior to Openform, she led global product marketing teams.
