Kiara Valdez hosted our Instagram, on August 27, 2023 for our weekly #SalaSundays series. Below are a few questions that we asked Kiara.
Latinx In Publishing (LxP): What do you do?
Kiara Valdez (KV): I am an editor at First Second, Macmillan's graphic novel imprint.
LxP: How did you get started?
(KV): I got hired right after graduating college and have been working at First Second for more than seven years.
LxP: What do you wish you knew before getting into the industry?
(KV): That if you're an editor your desire to read books outside of work actually decreases, haha. Or maybe it's just me.
LxP: What book are you currently working on or reading?
(KV): I'm working on a few but one I'd like to highlight is Call Me Iggy. It's a YA coming of age story about Ignacio "Iggy" Garcia, an Ohio-born Colombian American teen who relies on the outdated dating advice and terrible spanish lessons from his abuelito's ghost while trying to find a place he belongs—both in high school and in the general political climate of America.
Kiara Valdez is an Afro-Dominican writer and graphic novel editor from New York City (shout out to Washington Heights). She graduated from Williams College with a double major in English Literature and Japanese, and spends her free time reading, writing, and enjoying a long list of other hobbies she can't keep up with. She is currently an editor with First Second, where she has edited several award-winning and best-selling graphic novels.
Though she is proud of every book she’s worked on at First Second, she especially enjoyed working on the Check, Please! series, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, Snapdragon, Himawari House, and Frizzy. For her own list she is only looking for graphic novels and is mostly focused on middle grade and young adult. She is open to all genres but is especially interested in magical realism, memoir, #ownvoices stories (especially those from Latinx and Black creators), and stories with LGBTQ+ characters and romance. She likes stories that feel contemporary, real, and are grounded in our world regardless of the genre it’s in, and is a sucker for well-done resolutions/happy endings.
