Middle school history teacher and author Rafael Giraldo participated in the literary event at the TCS library on May 6 where he premiered his latest release Crucible of Resilience and talked about his second-latest Chronicles of a Resolute Runt.

Giraldo presented his anecdotes, life story, and books, to a group of 7th graders, parents, and school administrators. His presentation was also live-streamed on Zoom. The audience was enthusiastic with many questions, sometimes all at once.

“Giraldo is a very good speaker and has a lot of interesting stories. I also like that from the experiences he always gives us life lessons,” Daniel Mejia, Grade 7, said.

Giraldo spoke for around 90 minutes about personal adventures and experiences from his memoirs with historical and informative context. His newest book Chronicles Of a Resolute Runt tells the story of Giraldo’s childhood.  As the youngest of 9 children, Giraldo’s experience growing up in Czechoslovakia forged him into a capable and independent man.

“I like to share my experiences with others. I don’t want to just go through life collecting only for me, but rather sharing the other aspects of what I have lived through with others,” Giraldo said.

Giraldo spent from ages eight to fourteen (1971-1977) in Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia,  where his father was stationed as the Colombian ambassador. As a child, Giraldo found it difficult to make friends as many Czechoslovakian parents did not want their children influenced by “western capitalists.” When Giraldo was given his first bike, all of his free time was spent riding around the entire city. As a result, he learned the streets of Prague from top to bottom.

“If you take a glance at my book Chronicles of a Resolute Runt,  you can see that it is basically a guide of the city of Prague, it even has kind of like a small map at the end,” Giraldo said.

During Giraldo’s presentation, two 7th-graders represented Margaret, a woman that has helped Giraldo a lot with his literary journey. She has helped him edit his books, perfect them, and given him a lot of ideas. The kids read two passages that Margaret sent for them to read in her absence. Then Giraldo explained what Margaret meant for him.

“Margaret is the one that opened the door for me as an educator… She’s balanced, she is experienced, she has traveled the world, so she has a great perspective, also, Margaret has helped me tremendously by proofreading and editing my books,” Giraldo said.

After Giraldo gave his presentation, he made time for questions. During this time he let the public know that he is taking a break from teaching at the end of the school year and that he isn’t fully sure how long that break is going to take. But what is clear is that Giraldo will continue producing literary pieces during this time, probably with more frequency.

“Before I continue teaching I have to address some personal matters. Even though it was hard I sold my farm in el Retiro which I loved so much, so now I bought land in Alejandría and have intentions of living constructing a house there,” Giraldo said.