Review and Author Q & A: Skeletina and The In-Between World by Susie Jaramillo

Skeletina and The In-Between World by Susie Jaramillo is a story about overcoming fears and finding comfort in moments of sadness. It takes place in the in-between world, where monsters, creatures and ghosts are friendly and the dead and living can come together.

Skeletina is a little girl who lives in the in-between world and loves to visit her friends, whom are filled with wise words and are lots of fun. Her favorite friends are the children who visit the in-between world; who she is able to help confront their fears and find the peace that they need, when they miss a loved one that has passed.

Throughout the pages of this book, both kids and adults will find powerful words surrounded by beautiful illustrations. The story is a reminder that anything is possible, when we believe in ourselves.

I had the opportunity to ask Susi Jaramillo a few questions about Skeletina and The In-Between World. She spoke about her childhood and the inspiration for the story, her creative influences and about future projects.

Tiffany Gonzalez (TG): What inspired you to write Skeletina and The In-Between World?

Susie Jaramillo (SJ): As a child, I suffered from intense nightmares until one night, I figured out that if you manage to let go as you dream and not fight the nightmares, they dissipate. Now, I’m a mom and my daughter also suffers from intense nightmares. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there were a little girl, who lived in the in-between world, who could help kids like my daughter deal with their nightmares? And, I imagined this little girl to be like my alter-ego: Funny, friendly, irreverent, and knowledgeable about all things in the in-between world!

TG: I loved how each character in the story held a message to push through fears, uncertainty and worries. Señor Tic Toc and his message of possibility resonated with me the most, which is your favorite character or message from the story?

SJ: My favorite character would have to be Spider Grandma. Both of my grandmothers did so much with their hands. They were constantly making, crafting, cooking, and crocheting. It’s a big part of the culture. In general, Latin culture is very crafty, we love to make things - and we like our little espresso cups too!

TG: Could you talk a bit about culture and how it is represented in this story? I see a lot of elements of El Día De Los Muertos, which derives from Mexico and their homage to deceased loved ones.

SJ: I love to draw and I’ve had this world in my head for a long time. Skeletina has Calavera markings on her face because it’s a shorthand way to show that she’s from the in-between world. She’s not like the kids that visit her in their dreams. She’s from another time completely which makes it more magical. I’m a huge admirer of the work of Jose Posada and I wanted to marry his sensibility with that of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey - both artists I loved growing up. There’s also quite a bit of MC Escher to Skeletina’s world as space and time function in a completely different way. It’s a vibrant place with lots of nostalgic details and hopefully the humor and the energy of the place comes through.

TG: The lessons in the story very much apply to adults as well, was that something you intended to do?

SJ: Yes! Most of us don’t realize that we are having the same nightmares, and these all come from similar experiences. With the Skeletina books, I’ve distilled a given nightmare into the work of a particular monster who can be easily diffused, once you get the hang of what it responds to. The trick is to remember that NOTHING can hurt you in the in-between world. You are truly in control of everything, and once you crack that - amazing things can happen. This definitely applies to both kids and adults alike.

TG: Do you have advice for parents with children who have nightmares frequently?

SJ: My best advice is to talk to your children about their dreams and see if you can get at what’s bothering them. If they can identify this and talk about it, chances are the bad dreams will go away. Empathize with them, and make sure they know you believe them. See if you can come up together with the way the dream should end. That will help children go back to sleep with confidence.

TG: Can we expect to see more of Skeletina and The In-Between World? Any other projects on the horizon that we can expect?

SJ: Skeletina will continue to help kids, one nightmare at a time! With our next book, we will take a deep dive into a dream that is super common, find out who’s behind it, and how we diffuse it. It’s one of the most common and strange dreams that we all have… and it’s all because of a greedy tooth fairy!

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Susie Jaramillo is an artist, a storyteller, an entrepreneur and a mom. An eternal student of cultures from around the world, she was born in Venezuela and raised between Caracas and Florida. At the age of 17, she moved to New York to study art at Pratt Institute where she honed her crafts in painting and printmaking, and she now resides in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. As a kid, she had nightmares frequently until she discovered that she was in control of her dreams. She created Skeletina to empower children like her to take control of their fears and be brave.

Tiffany Gonzalez is the Marketing Manager at Astra House and the Communications Co-Director for Latinx In Publishing. She previously worked in Production at HarperCollins Publishers. She has worked on the Publicity and Marketing campaign for Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva and on the Marketing campaigns for Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekiyamah and The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela. She has earned her Bachelors and Master's degrees from Rutgers University - NB. She is Dominican-American and fluid in Spanish. She is a Publisher’s Weekly 2022 Star Watch Honoree. You can follow her on Instagram @wandering_tiff_ or visit her website at wanderingtiff.com

Spooky Books by Latinx Authors

Its spooky season! There is nothing like curling up with a good scary book this time of year. With Halloween just a few days away, get in the holiday spirit by picking up one of these spooky Latinx reads!

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Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

One hot summer night, best friends Lourdes, Fernanda, Ana, Perla, and Pauline hold a séance. It's all fun and games at first, but their tipsy laughter turns to terror when the flames burn straight through their prayer candles and Fernanda starts crawling toward her friends and chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors.

Over the next few weeks, shy, modest Fernanda starts acting strangely-smearing herself in black makeup, shredding her hands on rose thorns, sucking sin out of the mouths of the guilty. The local priest is convinced it's a demon, but Lourdes begins to suspect it's something else-something far more ancient and powerful.

As Father Moreno's obsession with Fernanda grows, Lourdes enlists the help of her "bruja Craft crew" and a professor, Dr. Camacho, to understand what is happening to her friend in this unholy tale of possession-gone-right.

Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories Edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz

Fifteen original short stories from YA superstars, featuring Latine mythology's most memorable monsters.

From zombies to cannibals to death incarnate, this cross-genre anthology offers something for every monster lover. In Our Shadows Have Claws, bloodthirsty vampires are hunted by a quick-witted slayer; children are stolen from their beds by "el viejo de la bolsa" while a military dictatorship steals their parents; and anyone you love, absolutely anyone, might be a shapeshifter waiting to hunt.

The worlds of these stories are dark but also magical ones, where a ghost-witch can make your cheating boyfriend pay, bullies are brought to their knees by vicious wolf-gods, a jar of fireflies can protect you from the reality-warping magic of a bruja--and maybe you'll even live long enough to tell the tale. Set across Latin America and its diaspora, this collection offers bold, imaginative stories of oppression, grief, sisterhood, first love, and empowerment.

Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias

In this mosaic horror/crime novel, ghosts and old gods guide the hands of those caught up in a violent struggle to save the soul of the American southwest. A man tasked with shuttling children over the border believes the Virgin Mary is guiding him towards final justice. A woman offers colonizer blood to the Mother of Chaos. A boy joins corpse destroyers to seek vengeance for the death of his father.These stories intertwine with those of a vengeful spirit and a hungry creature to paint a timely, compelling, pulpy portrait of revenge, family, and hope.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.

Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn't include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.

Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?

Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other's company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there--murderer, or monster?

Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Vera Martinez wants nothing more than to escape Roaring Creek and her parents' reputation as demonologists. Not to mention she's the family outcast, lacking her parents' innate abilities, and is terrified of the occult things lurking in their basement.

Maxwell Oliver is supposed to be enjoying the summer before his senior year, spending his days thinking about parties and friends. Instead he's taking care of his little sister while his mom slowly becomes someone he doesn't recognize. Soon he suspects that what he thought was grief over his father's death might be something more...sinister.

When Maxwell and Vera join forces, they come face to face with deeply disturbing true stories of cults, death worship, and the very nature that drives people to evil.

Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism.

A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest.

Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can't get rid of him.

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

A macabre novel in verse of loss, longing, and identity crises following a poet who resurrects pop star Selena from the dead.

A young Latinx poet grappling with loneliness and heartache decides one day to bring Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life. The séance kicks off an uncanny trip narrated by a Greek chorus of gossiping spirits as she journeys through a dead celebrity prom, encounters her shadow self, and performs karaoke in hell.

In visceral poems embodying millennial angst, paragraph-long conversations overheard at her local coffeeshop, and unhinged Twitter rants, Lozada-Oliva reveals an eerie, sometimes gruesome, yet moving love story.

Playfully morbid and profoundly candid, an interrogation of Latinidad, womanhood, obsession, and disillusionment, Dreaming of You grapples with the cost of being seen for your truest self.

#SalaSundays with Lauren Ortiz

Lauren Ortiz hosted our Instagram on October 16th for our weekly #SalaSundays series. Below are a few questions that we asked Lauren.

Latinx in Pub (LxP): What do you do?

Lauren Ortiz (LO): I am a publicist at Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, working specifically on the Voracious and Little, Brown Spark imprints.

LxP: How did you get started?

LO: I started my career in publishing in September of 2020. I was lucky to be connected to the publicity team at Little, Brown for an associate role and we hit it off right away!

LxP: What do you wish you knew before getting into the industry?

LO: Before getting into the industry, I had no idea how many incredible people were involved in creating a book, from managing editorial, to designers, to marketing, and more. It takes a village to publish great books!

LxP: What book are you currently working on or reading?

LO: I am currently working on the memoir for Outlander’s Sam Heughan, titled WAYPOINTS, and a fun interactive cocktail book called POUR ME ANOTHER by J.M. Hirsch.

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Lauren Ortiz joined Little, Brown in 2020 as an Associate Publicist with Little, Brown Spark and Voracious imprints focusing on lifestyle, cooking, health and wellness, science, and psychology titles. Prior to joining Little, Brown, she worked at NBCUniversal as a Page in NBCU’s Page Program and later as a publicity coordinator with NBC Entertainment, where she assisted in publicity campaigns for late night and prime time television shows including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Law & Order: SVU, and The Blacklist. In her time at Little, Brown, she’s had the opportunities of working with talented authors such as Sam Heughan, Leah Thomas, Mamadou Ndiaye, Christopher Kimball, among others. A graduate of Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick, she earned her BS in Business Marketing.

It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story About Marijuana Written and illustrated by Ricardo Cortés

A beautifully illustrated picture book that gives parents a way to discuss marijuana with children without encouraging them to use it.

It’s Just a Plant is a children’s book that follows the journey of a young girl as she learns about the marijuana plant from a cast of characters including her parents, a local farmer, a doctor, and a police officer.

Marijuana can be hard to talk about. Many parents have tried it, millions use it, and most feel awkward about disclosing such histories (often ducking the question), for fear that telling kids the truth might encourage them to experiment too. Meanwhile, the “drug facts” children learn in school can be more frightening than educational, blaming pot for everything from teenage pregnancy to terrorism. A child’s first awareness of drugs should come from a better source.

It’s Just a Plant is a story for parents who want to discuss the complexities of pot with their kids in a thoughtful, fact-oriented manner. The book also features an afterword by Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, founder of the Safety First Project for drug education and director emerita of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading organization working to end the war on drugs.

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RICARDO CORTÉS is the #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator of Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach, and Party: A Mystery, by the acclaimed author Jamaica Kincaid. Cortés has written and illustrated books including Sea Creatures from the Sky and A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and on CNN, Fox News, and the Late Show with David Letterman. You can see his work at Rmcortes.com, or on Twitter and Instagram at @Rmcortes.

Review: The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal

The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal, her debut into adult fiction, follows the life Isla Larsen Sanchez and her family. When Isla’s father passes away, she finds herself spending the summers in Puerto Rico with her great aunt, while her mother stays home. Set against the ever-shifting background of New Jersey and Puerto Rico, Isla struggles with her family, both immediate and extended, on top of her own questions of self and her cultural identity.

Isla lives a dual life: one with her mother in New Jersey and one with her great-aunt and other extended family in Puerto Rico. The two lives almost never intersect, as Isla’s mother hasn’t joined her since her father past. As Isla grows up, she feels like an outsider no matter where she is, until she turns eighteen when her grandmother passes away. Isla’s Is visited by her grandmother, a gifted storyteller, through a vision of the last story her grandmother told her.

As Isla experiences more deaths of her extended family, she continues to be visited by the ghosts of past Sanchez cuentistas, her family’s storytellers. Isla believes the stories are a gift that connects her to her family in a way that she had never been before. But when someone close to Isla passes away, they leave her with a vision of an old murder mystery, one that could kill Isla if she is not careful. What were once harmless stories giving Isla a look into the lives of her family suddenly force Isla to investigate her family’s past in ways that have been buried for years.

The Storyteller’s Death, a historical mystery, takes the reader on the lifelong journey of Isla. Through Isla, the reader can see the way generational trauma, rooted prejudice, and family secrets can taint even the most well-meaning families. Cardinal tackles many difficult themes throughout this novel, including but not limited to classism and personal identification within a cultural, in breathtaking prose that truly allow the reader to reflect on their own life and family history.

Throughout this book, despite the troubles and secrets that the Sanchez family faced there was a deep sense of love and understanding. Through small acts like buying ice cream together or larger displays of love like taking your great-niece in ever summer, the Sanchez loves each other to a fault. This story reminds us that to love intensely most be vulnerable as it is protective. Family must challenge the generational missteps to continue to heal and grow for the better. This book was a beautiful reading experience from its elegant prose to its display of mystery and magical realism, down to its beautiful depiction of familial growth from a place of love and care. For readers who want something different this book has truly earned its spot on Buzzfeed’s Most-Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers of 2022.

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Ann Dávila Cardinal is a novelist and Director of Recruitment for Vermont College of Fine Arts where she also earned her MFA in Writing. She comes from a long line of Puerto Rican writers, including father and son poets Virgilio and José Antonio Dávila, and her cousin, award-winning fiction writer Tere Dávila. Ann's first novel, Sister Chicas, was co-written with Jane Alberdeston Coralin and Lisa Alvarado, and was released from New American Library. Her next novel, a horror young adult work titled Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen on June 4, 2019. The story continues in Category Five, also from Tor Teen, released on June 2, 2020. Ann lives in Vermont where she cycles, knits, and prepares for the zombie apocalypse.

Tereza Lopez (she/her) is a recent graduate from Clark University with a double major in English and history. She attended Clark University again in Fall 2021 and obtained a Master’s in communication. When she is not studying, you can find her obsessively reading or taking care of her new kitten.

Poetry Foundation Honors Diverse Group of Poets with Pegasus Awards

On September 8, 2022, The Poetry Foundation announced the winners of the 2022 Pegasus Awards that will be honored at an award ceremony in Chicago this October.

The Pegasus Awards include the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize, the Young People’s Poet Laureate, and the Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism.

In honor of the 110th anniversary of Poetry magazine, the Foundation decided to award 11 Lilly Prizes—one for each decade of the magazine.

The 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize winners include two Latinx poets; Sandra Cisneros and Juan Felipe Herrera!

Elizabeth Acevedo is the 2022 Young People’s Poet Laureate.

October 2022 Latinx Releases

on sale October 4, 2022

Mariana and Her Familia by Monica Mancillas | Picture Book

Mariana is visiting her abuelita and extended family in Mexico for the first time. Her tummy does a flip as she and Mami cross the frontera.

There are all new sights, smells, and sounds. And at Abuelita's house, Mariana is overwhelmed by new faces and Spanish phrases she doesn't understand.

But with a story, some kindness, and a few new words from Abuelita, Mariana discovers that the love of family knows no cultural divide.

On This Airplane by Lourdes Heuer | Picture Book

On this airplane . . .

Someone travels solo,
two travel as one,
three return
and four set out.

In this simple and moving book, a young family takes a plane to their new home. While onboard, they encounter all the people you meet on a plane: a bookworm, a businessperson, tourists, crying babies, and daydreamers . . . all with their own stories and all heading somewhere special.

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera | Young Adult

It's the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there's one question on everyone's mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax?

Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he's going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what's coming.

Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident.

Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever--one of them receives a call, and the other doesn't. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together...even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking.

Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera's signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest.

The Lords of Night (a Shadow Bruja Novel) by J. C. Cervantes | Middle Grade

Fourteen-year-old Renata Santiago is the most powerful godborn of them all, a bruja with a unique combination of DNA. The Mexica blood from her dad's side gives her the ability to manipulate shadows. Her mom Pacific, a Maya goddess, gifted her a magical rope that controls time, and Ren recently used it to save a few gods from getting stuck forever in 1987. She brought them back to the present, but her BFF Ah Puch, the once fearsome god of death, darkness, and destruction, is now a teenager with no divine powers.

Ren is also a girl with ordinary hopes and dreams. She wishes, for example, that her blog about alien sightings would garner more respect. She's always been absolutely convinced that there's a connection between aliens and the Maya civilization. Plenty of online haters feel differently, and they call her a fake, a liar, and a loser.

When Ren receives an email about an alien sighting in Kansas, she thinks it may support her theory. She also suspects that the cinco--five renegade godborns--are up to no good. Soon she finds herself embroiled in a quest to prevent the troublemakers from awakening the nine Aztec Lords of Night. Problem is, none of Ren's friends are available to help her hunt down the cinco and the dangerous gods they are resurrecting. Ren has no choice but to team up with two strangers recruited by Ah Puch: Edison, a teen hybrid demon, and Montero, an eleven-year-old Aztec hunter. Succeeding in this quest will prove that Ren is no fake, liar, or loser. But it isn't just another challenge. It could well be an impossible one that leaves Ren questioning her very existence.

on sale October 11, 2022

Undercover Latina by Aya De Leon | Middle Grade

A Latina teen spy goes undercover as a white girl to stop a white supremacist terrorist plot in a fast-paced middle-grade debut from a seasoned author of contemporary crime fiction.

In her debut for younger readers, Aya de León pits a teen spy against the ominous workings of a white nationalist. Fourteen-year-old Andréa Hernández-Baldoquín hails from a family of spies working for the Factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. For her first solo mission, Andréa straightens her hair and goes undercover as Andrea Burke, a white girl, to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In addition to her Factory training, the assignment calls for a deep dive into the son's interests--comic books and gaming--all while taking care not to speak Spanish and blow her family's cover. But it's hard to hide who you really are, especially when you develop a crush on your target's Latino best friend. Can Andréa keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist? Smart, entertaining, and politically astute, this is fast-paced upper-middle-grade fare from an established author of heist and espionage novels for adults.

What the Jaguar Told Her by Alexandra V. Mendez | Middle Grade

Jade is starting eighth grade in a new city--Atlanta. She just wants to go back to Chicago, where her friends are. Where her Abuela lives.

But Jade does like walking to her new school on the trail that winds through the woods behind her house, where lush flowers bloom and soft leaves rustle beneath her feet. In the forest, Jade feels protected. Sometimes, it's as if it's listening to her.

There, Jade meets Itztli, an elderly storyteller who exists between dreams and reality. In the golden afternoons when Itztli appears, he steps out of the forest as a lithe, agile jaguar. But when he speaks to Jade, he is a wise old man who makes intricate works of art and tells her ancestral stories of Mexico. At first, Itztli's stories feel far removed from Jade's life. But as her Abuela suddenly falls ill, two towers come crashing down in New York City, and Jade becomes someone or something she doesn't yet understand, Itztli's stories take on new meaning. Jade must learn to have patience and strength to become who she was always meant to be, as the stirrings of an ancient power awaken within her.

What the Jaguar Told Her is a lyrical debut about growing up in the midst of change, and a magical cultural homecoming.

Someday Mija, You’ll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman by Yvonne Martinez | Non Fiction

At eighteen, Yvonne Martinez flees brutal domestic violence and is taken in by her dying grandmother . . . who used to be a sex worker. Before she dies, her grandmother reveals family secrets and shares her uncommon wisdom. “Someday, Mija,” she tells Yvonne, “you’ll learn the difference between a whore and a working woman.” She also shares disturbing facts about their family’s history—eventually leading Yvonne to discover that her grandmother was trafficked as a child in Depression-era Utah by her own mother, Yvonne’s great-grandmother, and that she was blamed for her own rape.

In the years that follow her grandmother’s passing, Yvonne gets an education and starts a family. As she heals from her own abuse by her mother and stepfather, she becomes an advocate/labor activist. Grounded in her grandmother’s dictum not to whore herself out, she learns to fight for herself and teaches others to do the same—exposing sexual harassment in the labor unions where she works and fighting corruption. Intense but ultimately uplifting, Someday Mija, You’ll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman is a compelling memoir in essays of transforming transgenerational trauma into resilience and post-traumatic growth.

Brown Enough by Christopher Rivas | Non Fiction

At a time when disinformation, hate crimes, inequality, racial injustice, and white supremacy are on the rise, Brown Enough, part memoir and part social commentary, emerges, asking readers to proudly put their bodies, their identities, into the conversations of race. Brown Enough is a roller coaster of finding one's true self while simultaneously having a racial awakening amidst the struggle to be "perfectly" Latinx, woke, and as Brown as possible to make it in today's America.

Its pages are full of honest explorations of love, sex, fake-it-till-you-make-it ambition, bad Spanish, color, code-switching, white-washing, scandal, Hollywood, and more. This memoir navigates these necessary and often revealing topics through fourteen chapters, each a distinct moment where Rivas explores his Brownness and how to own it.

Brown Enough opens with a moment that forever changed Christopher Rivas's life, the night Ta-Nehisi Coates shared, in an intimate gathering in downtown L.A., the Brown man's role in the race conversation.

"All I hear is black and white. As a Brown man, a Latin man, where does that leave me?" Coates took a short breath and responded, "Not in it."

Like a reprimanded child, Rivas took his seat and remained silent for much of the event. But the effects didn't end there. This conversation pushed Rivas to contemplate and rethink how whiteness and Blackness had impacted his sense of self and worth.

"Why is Brown not in it?" became the unspoken question for the rest of his life and a thread moving through this collection. Eventually, in every conversation, during every date, at every job, Rivas began to ask, "What are the consequences of not being in the conversation?" "What does it take to be in it?"

Brown Enough is the quest to find an answer.

on sale October 18, 2022

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega | Graphic Novel

A middle grade graphic novel about Marlene, a young girl who stops straightening her hair and embraces her natural curls.

Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and growing up. That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have presentable, good hair.

But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn't understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment, and the much-needed help of Camila and Tia Ruby--she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.

on sale October 25, 2022

A Touch of Moonlight by Yaffa S. Santos | Fiction

Larimar Cintrón works hard at three things: her job as brand manager for Beacon Café, a New York based corporate bakery chain; taking care of her parents and her abuela; and hiding that she's a ciguapa--a mythical creature of Dominican folklore with long, straight hair and backwards-facing feet. Larimar may only be a ciguapa on full moons, but she feels like an outsider in her family the rest of the month too. Her love of '90s punk rock music and style further sets her apart. But when her best friend introduces her to Ray, a bakery owner and fellow punk rock lover, Larimar thinks she may have finally found someone with whom she can be her true self.

As Beacon's brand manager, Larimar oversees all new location openings, including its newest store in New Jersey, which could be the project that finally lands her a coveted promotion. But when she discovers the location is right across from Ray's bakery, Borrachitos, Larimar is torn between impressing her boss and saving Ray's business.

As Larimar continues to grow closer to Ray and the new store's opening looms, she struggles to hide the truth about herself and her job. But embracing her magical nature may be the only way Larimar can have everything she wants. Witty and poignant, A Touch of Moonlight is a celebration of heritage, culture, and identity--of embracing yourself and finding your place in the world.

A Seed in the Sun by Aida Salazar | Middle Grade

Lula Viramontes aches to one day become someone whom no one can ignore: a daring ringleader in a Mexican traveling circus. But between working the grape harvest in Delano, California, with her older siblings under dangerous conditions; taking care of her younger siblings and Mamá, who has mysteriously fallen ill; and doing everything she can to avoid Papá's volatile temper, it's hard to hold on to those dreams.

Then she meets Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and other labor rights activists and realizes she may need to raise her voice sooner rather than later: Farmworkers are striking for better treatment and wages, and whether Lula's family joins them or not will determine their future.

On Sale October 27, 2022

Santiago's Dinosaurios by Mariana Rios Ramirez | Picture Book

Santiago finds a way to connect to his classmates--through dinosaurios!

Santiago is new to the United States, and he doesn't speak English. On his first day of school, how will he connect with his peers? Santiago learns that even when you don't speak the same language, some interests--like dinosaurs--are universal.

5 Latinx Authors are 2022 National Book Award Finalists

The National Book Foundation has announced the Finalists for the 2022 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Fiction, Nonfiction and Translated Literature.

There is a wonderfully diverse cast of authors on this year’s list, with titles that address issues such as gender and sexuality, racism and xenophobia, and self-esteem and self-acceptance.

5 of the finalists this year are Latinx!

Young People’s Literature

Sonora Reyes for The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School | Balzer + Bray

Fiction

Alejandro Varela for The Town of Babylon | Astra House

Nonfiction

Ingrid Rojas Contreras for The Man Who Could Move Clouds | Doubleday

Translated Literature

Mónica Ojeda for Jawbone | Coffee House Press

Translated Literature

Samanta Schweblin for Seven Empty Houses | Riverhead Books

Congratulations to all the finalists!

LxP Chat with Claudia Cardona & Caroline Bleeke from Our 2021 Work-In-Progress Fellowship

The Latinx in Publishing Inc. (LxP) Work-in-Progress (WiP) Fellowship Program is designed to help support and create opportunities for aspiring Latinx writers. Work-in-Progress Fellowship will support one Latinx writer (living in the United States including Puerto Rico) with a manuscript in the Fiction, Narrative Nonfiction, or Young Adult categories by pairing them with a Macmillan editor to help develop their manuscript over a 10-month period. The winner is selected by a panel of judges. Claudia Cardona was LxP’s 2021 Fellow.

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Latinx in Publishing (LxP): Claudia, can you speak to what surprised you most as you went deeper and deeper into your own specific relationships with Ali and Caroline? 

Claudia Cardona (CC): As I grew to know Caroline Bleeke, I was pleased to discover how much we had in common as editors and shocked at little I knew about the publishing industry. Caroline graciously shared her experiences and knowledge from her editorial experiences. In every conversation we had, I grew a new branch of editorial knowledge. 

I figured the editorial grind was tough, but I didn’t realize how much work editors put into their manuscripts, during and after working hours. It gave me a new perspective on how much energy and care editors put into their clients’ work. It also showed me how much unpaid labor is expected in the literary world. 

Additionally, our conversations gave me more insight into the structural issues of the publishing world. Caroline and I had incredible conversations about these problems and our perspectives on these issues. Our conversations helped me imagine the type of editorial work I would like to do in Texas.

LxP: In my experience, there's some key element to the relationship between the editor and the writer that needs to be there in order for the process to really function or function as well as it can -- in your own mind, how would you describe that key element and how did you see it play out over the course of the fellowship, regarding your own work with each other one-on-one, or even what you observed about each other and then your own approach to the work having participated these past ten months in the fellowship?

CC: Through my experiences in and out of the fellowship, I feel like the key element of an editor-writer relationship is understanding and communication. Above all, editors should bring out the best version of a writer’s work. When Caroline spoke to me about working with past authors, she shared a similar sentiment. In her editorial process, Caroline notes questions about their writing choices and asks her authors these questions so that they can articulate what they are trying to accomplish. During my fellowship, I worked on my father’s poetry manuscript I plan to publish this summer. I got to try out this technique of asking questions so that he could articulate his poems, which led to great revisions. 

LxP: As writers, I feel like we all have a kind of preconceived notion about what the work of an editor is or might be before we actually work with an editor -- or maybe it's just this kind of mysterious cipher of a job and we don't have any ideas what an editor does outside of editing, and then, no idea what editing itself might actually mean. Ali and Caroline, can you talk a little about the kind of misconceptions people might have about the work you do as editors?

Caroline Bleeke (CB): From the outside, the job of an editor can seem very solitary – all reading and editing alone at a desk. And of course there is plenty of that. But my job is much more about building relationships and community. As an editor, I’m the conduit between my authors and all of the other people who will help bring their book into the world: publicity, marketing, art, design, sales, booksellers and librarians, etc. I’m trying to spread excitement and love for the books on my list, to matchmake between authors and readers. I was certainly surprised by how social my job turned out to be, and it’s one of my favorite parts of my work. 

LxP: Claudia, how did participating in the fellowship with your mentors maybe change the way you looked at and approached your own work, whether as writers or readers or editors? Do you find yourself thinking about the work differently than before? 

CC: In my editorial career, I always had the feeling that my editorial experiences were a neat side note in my resume but not anything comparable to the experiences of editors at “Big Five.” Although Caroline’s editorial journey is very different from mine, she always made me feel like an equal. She validated and encouraged me by reminding me that I have had abundant editorial experience. 

Now that I have a better idea of how the publishing world functions, I have a better idea of what I want to do with my own editorial career. Hearing Caroline articulate what she loves about being an editor helped me figure out why I want to do this work as well. Now I am constantly on the lookout for local poets who I would like to publish. Giving back to my community through publishing is the type of work I want to do.

LxP: Now that you've almost completed the ten month fellowship program (or now that you've been working in your industry as long as you have), what advice would you give other writers who hadn't experienced work with an editor yet? -- whether about their own writing process, about the editing process and what it entails, about anything, really.

CC: As an editor and writer, I know how difficult it can be on both ends. Sending out submissions can feel so vulnerable and raw, so it is important to do research beforehand. Writers need to make sure they are sending work to editors who publish writers who they feel like their work is in conversation with. Additionally, working with an editor should be a collaborative experience. As writers, we can feel so connected to our work and it may be hard to embrace changes, but it is necessary to keep an open mind and trust the editor. 

CB: I think it’s crucial that editors and writers be on the same page from the very beginning about what their ultimate vision for the book is. An editor can have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for a writer and still not be the right partner to help bring their work into the world. I always have preliminary phone calls with writers whose work I’m considering for acquisition to make sure our editorial ideas and goals align – and writers should be very candid in those conversations. Even when I work extensively with a writer on revisions, my notes are always to the end of helping an author realize their vision, rather than imposing my own, and that’s the most important aspect of an editor/writer relationship, for me.

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Cloud Delfina Cardona (she/they) is a poet, artist, and educator from San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of What Remains, the 2020 Host Publications Chapbook Winner. She is the co-founder of Infrarrealista Review with Juania Sueños, an organization dedicated to publishing Texan writers. Her poetry can be found in wildness, Voices de la Luna, Apogee, Salt Hill, Wax 9, and more. Follow them at @mexistentialism for art and poems.

Caroline Bleeke (she/her), Executive Editor, publishes literary and upmarket fiction at Flatiron Books, with an emphasis on underrepresented voices, historical fiction, clever retellings, family sagas, coming-of-age stories, innovative structure and style, writing with a strong sense of place, and heart. Her authors include Angie Cruz, author of DOMINICANA and the forthcoming HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER, and Saraciea J. Fennell, editor of WILD TONGUES CAN'T BE TAMED, as well as Nina LaCour, Charlotte McConaghy, Margarita Montimore, Melinda Moustakis, Neel Patel, Bushra Rehman, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, and many others. She began her career at Alfred A. Knopf, and holds a Master’s degree in Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Literature.

#SalaSundays with Irene Vázquez

Irene Vázquez hosted our Instagram on October 2nd for our weekly #SalaSundays series. Below are a few questions that we asked Irene.

Latinx in Pub (LxP): What do you do?

Irene Vázquez (IV): I'm an Assistant Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido

LxP: How did you get started?

IV: I was a freelance reader at LQ (reading manuscripts in French and Spanish), then an intern (with the support of the WNDB internship grant), then started full time in the Summer of 2021!

LxP: What do you wish you knew before getting into the industry?

IV: How many cool non-editorial jobs there are in publishing!

LxP: What book are you currently working on or reading?

IV: Currently working on THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY by Dale Walls (out in Fall '23).

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Irene Vázquez is an Assistant Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido. Irene graduated from Yale with a BA in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and English. Irene read Esperanza Rising so many times in elementary school that the cover started to tear and has been passionate about children’s books ever since. Outside of LQ, Irene is a poet and journalist who likes drinking coffee, watching Queen Sugar and reminding folks that the South has something to say.