Lost Children Archive

Lost Children Archive is a 2019 novel by writer Valeria Luiselli. Luiselli was in part inspired by the ongoing American policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico–United States border. The novel is the first book Luiselli wrote in English. The novel details a cross-country journey from New York to Arizona in a car by a husband and wife, Mama and Papa, and their children, "the girl" and "the boy," both from previous relationships. The novel incorporates fragments from the poetry of other poets, including from poems by Anne Carson, Galway Kinnell, and Augusto Monterroso. The novel's climax, "Echo Canyon", consists of a single sentence that runs for 20 pages. The novel ends with 24 Polaroid photos provided by Luiselli, credited to the novel's fictional stepson. The novel won the 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize and the 2021 Dublin Literary Award. It was also longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize and the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction.