El Museo del Barrio New York

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's appointment as the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in 2009 made her an international icon, but it was the years leading up to this appointment that made her an inspiration. Now, Justice Sotomayor returns to El Museo del Barrio on the release of her memoir, My Beloved World. Award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa joins Justice Sotomayor in a conversation about her journey from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench.

The conversation will be followed by a book signing. Seating is limited and the book signing is reserved for ticket holders.

This event is currently sold out. Tickets will be held until 10 minutes before the program (2:50pm), at which time they will be released to walk-in guests on a first-come basis.

About My Beloved World (Courtesy Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life.

With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of forty. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery.