Paula Delgado-Kling came to Boca Raton for her daughter, an aspiring tennis player looking to hone her skills in South Florida.
Now, nearly five years later, Delgado-Kling has not only supported her daughter’s passion, but she has also pursued a dream of her own: writing her first book.
Delgado-Kling, 50, is now a celebrated author, with her debut book, “Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood,” released in January. The book chronicles the journey of a woman who spent her younger years forced into slavery by the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a notorious cocaine trafficking group. Delgado-Kling spent 20 years interviewing Leonor, a pseudonym used to protect the woman’s identity.
Although Delgado-Kling splits her time between New York and Boca Raton, it’s South Florida she calls home.
“We love our life in Boca,” says Delgado-Kling, who lives with her husband, Bertrand, and their 15-year-old daughter.
Delgado-Kling was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and raised in Toronto, Canada. When she was a child, her family was threatened by the FARC, which was targeting families with money and influence. Seeking safety, her family escaped to Toronto, where Delgado-Kling discovered her love for writing, eventually turning that passion into a career.
Delgado-Kling attended Brown University in Rhode Island as an undergraduate, studying comparative literature and French civilizations, then pursued a graduate degree in international studies at Columbia University, wanting to “find more meat in my writing,” she says. Afterward, she returned to Bogotá, where she met Leonor, whose survival stories captivated Delgado-Kling.
“It’s forced readers to question their own privilege,” she says of the book. “They realize that where they are born, they are really lucky.”
Delgado-Kling feels lucky, too.
She has reconnected with her roots through her book, which is available to readers in Palm Beach County and online.
One of her favorite local activities is visiting the Palm Beach County Library on Glades Road. Although she is a familiar face there, it was only recently that she handed them a copy of her book for their shelves.
The librarian asked if she was really the author, and Delgado-Kling proudly replied, yes, as a matter of fact, she was.