Monica Fernandez hosted our Instagram, on May 21, 2023 for our weekly #SalaSundays series. Below are a few questions that we asked Monica.
Latinx In Publishing (LxP): What do you do?
Monica Fernandez (MF): I'm in charge of media and publicity for Red Hen's books and the company as a whole. I'm also managing all of our events, from local events to our presence at national and international book fairs.
LxP: How did you get started?
MF: I started at Red Hen as an intern in the Media and Publicity department in 2017 and worked my way up from there! Before that, I earned a Masters in Arts Degree in Creative Writing and Publishing and interned at a small press, Head of Zeus, in London for 6 months.
LxP: What do you wish you knew before getting into the industry?
MF: You have to wear so many hats, especially working at a small press! There's never a dull moment, but every minute is rewarding when you can hold these books in your hands after all that hard work!
LxP: What book are you currently working on or reading?
MF: At Red Hen, I'm working on our upcoming Fall season of books, which includes a fantastic queer, neurodivergent fantasy book called Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura. It is a fantastic, beautifully written and created world full of magic, queer love, and conspiracy and I can't wait until it comes out on September 12 this year!
Monica Fernandez graduated from the University of California, Irvine cum laude with a BA in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing, and from City University London with a MA in Creative Writing and Publishing. She has had several short fiction and creative nonfiction pieces published in The Chaffey Review, Rind Literary Magazine, Scribendi, The Left Coast Review, Creepy Gnome, and Pure Slush Magazine’s Envy anthology. She is Filipino-American, a proud Hufflepuff, and a film and theatre enthusiast.
