Review and Author Q & A: Saving Chupie by Amparo Ortiz and Illustrated by Ronnie Garcia

Saving Chupie opens to a beaming Violeta Rubio, who has just landed in Puerto Rico. She is thrilled to be on the island for the first time ever. And she’s here with her parents on a mission: to help her Abuelita get resettled.

Hurricane María—the deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the island in 2017—had forced Violeta’s grandmother to leave behind her apartment and beloved restaurant for Violeta’s home in Florida.

“I’m gonna help Abuelita get everything back to normal so she can stay for good,” Violeta narrates. “She’ll never ever be sad again.”

There’s just one problem. Violeta’s parents and grandmother won’t let her help with anything, and now she’s bored here without friends. But that quickly changes when she meets Diego, the son of a butcher who used to sell meat to Abuelita for her restaurant. Violeta learns then of rumors that the chupacabra is to blame for recent attacks on animals belonging to a local meat supplier.

The belief in the creature’s existence is laughable to Violeta. “I won’t believe until I see one with my own eyes,” she thinks to herself. When Diego and his best friend, Lorena, ask for help in capturing the chupacabra, Violeta sees a chance to develop true friendships on the island. So while searching for the creature alone, Violeta is shocked to stumble into one. And she discovers that he’s not the monstrous beast others have painted him to be. This chupacabra is adorable, even. She names him Chupie.

Now Violeta finds herself in a web of secrecy as she tries to keep Chupie out of sight. And soon there’s a new threat she and her friends must navigate—protecting the creature from an international network of smugglers and monster hunters.

Author Amparo Ortiz and illustrator Ronnie Garcia have brought readers an irresistible middle grade graphic novel filled with heart, adventure, and friendship. It also does not shy away from the harsh realities that Puerto Ricans had to face in the aftermath of Hurricane María. Garcia’s illustrations, paired with Amparo’s text, breathe vibrancy and warmth to this story. The Eisner Award-winning artist also did a wonderful job in reimagining a familiar legendary creature in Puerto Rico’s folklore.

“Author Amparo Ortiz and illustrator Ronnie Garcia have brought readers an irresistible middle grade graphic novel filled with heart, adventure, and friendship.”

On behalf of Latinx in Publishing, I spoke with Ortiz about the chupacabra, what it was like to work on this unique story with Garcia, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): Congratulations on Saving Chupie! This is your first middle grade graphic novel, and I read that you auditioned for the opportunity. What attracted you to this project?

Amparo Ortiz (AO): Indeed it is my very first middle grade, and my very first full-length graphic novel by myself. I’m very much used to writing short story comics, so this was a challenge and also an item on my bucket list—which is why I was initially attracted to the idea of auditioning. But I was heavily intimidated with the idea as well. And that’s precisely my formula for why I should do things in this industry: Does it challenge me? Is it intimidating? Good, let’s go.

AC: Your main character, Violeta, is visiting Puerto Rico for the first time with her family to help Abuelita revive her restaurant. We learn almost immediately that this takes place after Hurricane María. Why was it important for you to set the story during this period of recovery?

AO: When the story pitch came to me, it was already set during this period, and in a town that feels like my hometown because it’s my neighbor. I felt like this was a piece of home that I, of course, could have left someone else to write, but I just felt called to it because it was familiar. It was real. It was something that didn’t gloss over those post-María lifestyles, mindsets, and harsh realities. I felt like I could tackle that in a way that still honored what makes us beautiful, which is yes, our resilience.

But I think that’s kind of a cliche—saying Puerto Ricans are about resilience, or anyone in the Caribbean is about resilience. That sense of community stems from always being there for each other, but within these cultures and these separate countries, there are realities that are not shared. Seeing it from the perspective of someone who still lives here and is aware of things that maybe someone who is either diaspora, or who has never been to Puerto Rico don’t see as closely, is an added special touch that I could bring forth.

AC: I remember when chupacabras were all over the news. There were reported sightings in Puerto Rico and other countries, and there was some fear—as well as speculation. In Saving Chupie, the beast that Violeta finds does not appear to be the dangerous threat her friends think it is. What was it like to reimagine the chupacabra for this story?

AO: It was such a blast, honestly, because I have always been a horror fan, but through film and television. So when it came time to develop what Chupie was like, and the lore behind what Chupie is or what Chupie could be, I felt like this was a twist on something that I grew up actually hearing about. I was born in the 80s, and in the 90s we had a resurgence of the myth or the scares in Puerto Rico. The mayor of my hometown constantly went on hunting trips to find the chupacabra. So I felt like it was a nod to my past and something that I grew up with, but that I never really took seriously, not even as a child.

I do relate to Violeta when she is just super anti-believing this is real. Having a child question fantasy is something that I also had no experience with, in the fiction that I was consuming, because children are often quicker to believe that fantastical things are real. And so she was like, ‘Well, that’s ridiculous. Why would there be a monstrous creature roaming around town? It makes no sense. Y’all are just weird.’ It’s something that stems from the fact that she is not an islander herself. Most islanders in the book—and in reality—would be a little bit more partial to honoring whatever lore they’ve grown up listening to, or they’ve actually encountered in some way. And in this case, she simply is just straight out straddling that line between ‘Well, I grew up in Florida and I feel like gators are our worst nightmares there. There’s no monster here.’

AC: There’s another storyline here about the adults in Violeta’s life, particularly her Abuela, not wanting to accept her help. What message were you hoping to send by highlighting this tension?

AO: This is twofold, because as Latinas we live in what is considered a patriarchal society, a lot of which is evidenced through our daily conversations, how we live our lives, and the consequences of our choices. When it comes to how Abuelita reacts to accepting help, she is saying ‘no’ out of survival. She has to basically carry weight on her shoulders that isn’t hers, but she accepts it as hers simply because she knows she is lightening the load for others. And that is a very Latina thing to do.

It’s generational, because I feel like now you would speak to grandchildren who maybe don’t have any weight on their shoulders. They might have other loads.. They’re trying to figure out how to live, how to provide, how to survive. With an Abuelita and a Violeta, we have two very different people who approach life differently, but what they share is a love for each other and a love for their community. That’s something that is going to propel both of them into making compromises.

One of the main things I want readers to take away from Saving Chupie—whether they are Violeta’s age or Abuelita’s age—is for them to look within, and see where am I burdening myself? Where am I choosing to lighten someone else’s load, but I’m actually just making life harder for myself? And not honoring rest, not honoring compassion, not honoring mercy for what I really want to be.

AC: The illustrations by artist Ronnie Garcia are vivid and filled with so much expressiveness. What did you think of the job they did in helping to tell this story visually?

AO: I cannot properly explain how I felt when I first opened an email from my editor, Carolina Ortiz, with Ronnie’s art. For the audition, I actually saw Ronnie’s art first before I ever saw anything regarding the script because Ronnie had been hired first. Their designs were the ones that I saw as inspiration for the rest of the work. When I saw the initial sketches, I felt like I knew where it was going in terms of the humor, the heart. I knew what kind of person Violeta was. I knew what kind of creature Chupie was.

And then when I saw my first pages that I specifically scripted with Ronnie’s art, I literally lost all sense of control and I kind of squealed. I can’t remember the noise I made, but it’s definitely not a human noise. I remember emailing everyone back, like ‘I am not alive anymore. This is not real life.’ Because it’s the first time that I’d ever seen my art illustrated, and in that way. It was a full-length work, and everything was already sketched. I DM Ronnie all the time, like ‘You are not even real to me.’

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from Saving Chupie?

AO: The main goal is for them to truly enjoy a story set somewhere that maybe they’re not too familiar with, and that they can appreciate the high jinks, humor and heart through someone who is just as unhinged as I was as a child, but who is also as loving, and caring, and selfless as I want to be every single day. Violeta is mostly what I was and who I wish to be, or continue to be. Maybe that will capture the attention of the reader—this sense of adventure and magic in our world. At the same time, I want them to see someone who truly does put others first, but never gives up on her values and what she stands for.

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Amparo Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives on the island’s northeastern coast. While Blazewrath Games is her debut novel, Saving Chupie is her first book for middle grade readers. Her short story comic, “What Remains in the Dark,” appears in the Eisner Award-winning anthology Puerto Rico Strong. She holds a master of arts in English and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras campus. When she’s not teaching ESL to her college students, she’s streaming K-pop music videos, vlogging for her eponymous YouTube channel, and writing about Latinx characters in worlds both contemporary and fantastical. Follow her shenanigans at www.amparoortiz.com.

Eisner Award-winning artist Ronnie Garcia is a queer Puerto Rican illustrator with experience in comics and visual development. With a range of storytelling experience from middle grade to young adult, their signature talent involves designing creatures of the tooth variety. They have illustrated for several independent anthologies and books, and currently teach young artists in their community. When they’re not drawing pictures or working with young artists, they can be found huddled in a blanket fort working on puzzles and eating fruit snacks.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

Review and Author Q & A: Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera

Barely Floating begins with a splash—both literally and figuratively. Natalia De La Cruz Rivera y Santiago (also known as Nat) dares her brother’s friend, Beto, to a race at her local Inglewood pool. The 12-year-old proud gorda is certain that she can out-swim him, and she’s willing to bet money on it. Ten bucks, to be exact.

“From here to the full length of the pool,” Nat tells Beto as a crowd grows around them. “C’mon. What are you afraid of?”

In this forthcoming middle grade novel, the image of a self-assured Latina girl in Los Angeles came early to Pura Belpré Honor Award-winning author Lilliam Rivera. “I love this character,” Rivera said. “She is aware of her power, and that is because she grew up in this kind of environment where they really are about teaching that.”

It’s at this same pool where Nat bet Beto that she learns about synchronized swimming. When a local team, called the L.A. Mermaids, does a demonstration in the water, Nat immediately falls in love. But her activist mom and professor dad feel the sport is too body-conscious. Their no-for-now does not stop Nat, who devises a plan to join the team anyway. She enlists the help of her older cousin, Sheila, and soon dives into the world of synchronized swimming all while telling herself she’ll be able to convince her parents to let her stick with it.

Out on August 29, 2023, by Kokila Books, Barely Floating is a heartwarming and hilarious middle grade novel about a girl with an unforgettably fierce spirit who goes after what she wants. It’s a bumpy ride, but filled with moments both tender and funny. For her book, Rivera drew from personal experience as a synchronized swimming mom to expertly depict the world of synchronized swimming. Readers are also drawn close into issues related to class and the different tensions between girls and their mothers. There’s also an important lesson here in balance, on how sometimes we can’t do it all alone, instead we can seek community in helping us juggle what we need, to get the work done.

““Barely Floating” is a heartwarming and hilarious middle grade novel about a girl with an unforgettably fierce spirit who goes after what she wants. It’s a bumpy ride, but filled with moments both tender and funny. ”

On behalf of Latinx in Publishing, I spoke with Rivera about her new book, Barely Floating. She shared the inspiration behind the middle grade novel, what it was like to anchor Nat’s story in this sport, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Amaris Castillo (AC): What inspired you to write this book?

Lilliam Rivera (LR): Barely Floating is inspired by my life as a synchronized swimming mom. My oldest daughter is in college now, but when she was about seven years old we would take her to the local public pool. She was just learning how to swim and (one day) a Latina coach there was like, ‘Do you wanna learn how to dance in the water?’ She wanted to, so then I looked for a team out here in LA that was inclusive. I found one team that’s in the city proper. It’s Black-owned, and she joined that team. I lived in that world with her for a few years, and this was before I even started writing books. But I would be known as the mother who would bring a laptop to the competitions because I would just spend a lot of time writing and observing that world.

It’s also inspired by young children; people that I know who fall in love with something and maybe they’re unable to voice why they love it, or maybe their parents don’t think it’s going to work out. Kids start and stop a lot of things at that age. I wanted to write about this character, Nat, who is very much grounded in what she believes in and lives in a family that’s so outspoken, politically active, and about community. And yet, they still have their own blind side when it comes to their own children. I really wanted to explore that aspect of growing up in that kind of environment.

AC: One thing I loved about your book is the confidence and grit Natalia has. She’s out here daring other kids into swim bets to make money. She’s also a proud gorda and knows she’s beautiful. What was it like crafting this character who, from the first page, seems so empowered?

LR: Nat came to me very early on. The first image was really that first chapter of her out-swimming somebody. She was ready. She knew she could beat whoever. I love this character. She is aware of her power, and that is because she grew up in this kind of environment where they really are about teaching that. I love this family, but I also love that they still fall short, even when they’re doing their very best.

Nat is very business-oriented. She is ready to get paid. To her, it’s like ‘I can do this. No one can tell me not to.’ That’s why she went on to join this team, and to negotiate who she could convince to help her in that: her cousin and her brother, and all the people involved to help her achieve her dream. I feel that is a reflection of her mother, who is also that person who is community-oriented. She’s (Natalia) learned that. That’s why she’s so fully formed in that way.

AC: From the moment Natalia falls in love with synchronized swimming and secretly tries out for a local team, much of her life is turned upside down. The L.A. Mermaids is Black-owned and diverse, but Natalia laters learns that as a whole the sport is white-dominated. Can you talk about your decision to anchor your book in this sport, and what Natalia’s story says about kids of color who may be in a similar situation?

LR: When we were going to these teams, I was really aware of the discrepancy between those who come from affluent neighborhoods and others who don’t. Being on a team itself is a lot of money, and even Nat notices. She sees all the fees. And this is the key: As a parent or guardian, you have to really figure out ways to offset these costs. It’s almost another job, trying to find ways of navigating these kinds of systems that are not meant to be inclusive. With Nat, she just tries. To me it’s all about a community. It’s the community that could try to figure out a way of making things happen. Nat relies on her cousin and her brother, but she’s also relying on her best friend, and her teammates, as well: ‘How can I go to this competition if I don’t have a ride?’ These are aspects of my own experience when I had my daughter involved (in artistic swimming) because it was a huge commitment. But I leaned on a lot of people.

With young people, you’re not doing this alone. It’s like, ‘How can I go about accomplishing a dream or whatever it is I want to do? If I want to do art, maybe someone I know is an artist. Maybe I could see them.’ Facilitating those kinds of conversations is such a white privilege thing. They say, ‘An overnight success,’ it’s not when you realize they knew somebody. They were able to get this job somehow, because they had a connection to someone. And that’s a skill set that we all have to do. It’s like, who do you know who could help you? I think that’s a goal for our community. Because that’s all we ever do, is help each other. That’s how we survive. Even young people can do that. That is the one thing that I would love readers to take away, that community doesn’t start with just adults. A community starts with your schoolmates, with your friends, with those around you. They can help you problem-solve in a way that maybe you didn’t think about.

AC: There’s a tension throughout your book between Natalia and her activist mom. Natalia is keenly aware of all the things her mom is against, which include synchronized swimming and the beauty standards in fashion magazines. Natalia has different views. What message were you hoping to send by highlighting this tension between a child and her parent?

LR: Relationships are all so complicated. It’s not just black and white. We’re really living in a kind of gray. I wanted that relationship between Nat and her mom to reflect that—in the sense that they both needed to grow. Their relationship needed to shift.

There’s this moment when you’re in that age group, and you’re trying to really place your feet firmly on the ground in the world. You want to be seen and heard as the person that you are for that moment. And all that can change, but for this moment, look at me. Sometimes as parents, we overlook that because we’re busy just trying to protect our children at all costs, and that never changes as they grow older. But I really wanted this idea of: It’s not yes, or no, or right, or wrong. It’s more like, this is where I am. This is where I am standing, and can you meet me in this spot? Can we have a conversation about where we go from here? What path do we take from here that we can take together? And I love that, that forces her parents to just stop and see that their biases are really clouding their vision of their daughter, that their wanting to protect her is messing with her creativity. You could look into the history of things and maybe find a way of enjoying it, or reclaiming it as your own.

AC: What are you hoping readers take away from Barely Floating?

LR: First, I hope that they fall in love with Nat because I love her. And not only Nat, but even her cousin, and her (best friend) Joanne and her teammates and their group chats. I hope that they enjoy the humor because I think there’s a lot of really funny moments. Nat has a very unique sense of humor and is very honest when it comes to what she says and does.

And I hope that they get to enter a world that maybe not that many people know about. Synchronized swimming is called artistic swimming now. It’s such a hard overall sport. It’s amazing the stuff that they do underwater—doing flips and kicks. I’m just always in awe of anyone who dedicates time and effort to do a sport. This book is part of that conversation, of all these kinds of great sport books. And love that it’s based here in Los Angeles and these characters are very relatable. It’s a really fun and funny, enjoyable read—even if you don’t like swimming.

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Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning author. Her many books include young adult novels The Education of Margot Sanchez, Dealing in Dreams, Never Look Back (a Pura Belpré Honor book), as well as the Goldie Vance series for middle grade readers and the forthcoming, stand-alone middle grade book Barely Floating. Her latest novels We Light Up the Sky and Unearthed: A Jessica Cruz Story were named “Best Books of 2021” by Kirkus Review and School Library Journal.

The Pushcart Prize winner has also received fellowships and grants from PEN America, the Elizabeth George Foundation, Clarion Workshop, and the Speculative Literature Foundation. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Elle, among others.A Bronx, New York native, Lilliam currently lives in Los Angeles.

Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology and Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She is a proud member of Latinx in Publishing’s Writers Mentorship Class of 2023 and lives in Florida with her family and dog, Brooklyn.

Matt Sedillo: His Book Tour in Italy and translated work

Matt Sedillo is a Chicano political poet, essayist, and activist, based in Los Angeles, who is also starting his own press called El Martillo Press. Sedillo recently had an international book tour in Italy, after his work was translated into Italian. In this interview, he tells Latinx In Publishing Communications Co-Director Ruddy Lopez about Vite derubate, Terra derubata, how this tour came about, and his experience having his work translated.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Ruddy Lopez (RL): Tell me about your book tour in Italy and how it came about.

Matt Sedillo (MS): The book tour came through my publisher, Ensemble. They set up all the readings. When I say my publishers, it really was chiefly the effort of Edoardo Olmi, who was instrumental in the entire process. The trip included stops in Rome, Florence, Bitonto, Molfetta, Bari, Turin, Bologna, Venice, Varese, and finally Colleferro. It really was like several different trips all in one, each deserving its own careful retelling. I am still processing so much of what happened as this all was in the course of around three weeks.

I arrived in Rome two days early, planning to get over the jet lag. No such luck. Flamina Cruciani, a poet that David A. Romero and I are publishing, lives in Rome, so I figured it a good idea to meet up with her. Flamina is an incredible poet whose work has been celebrated all over the world. At dinner, we discussed the possibilities of readings in Colombia, the U.K. and what El Martillo would set up for her once she came stateside. On the day of the reading, I met Edoardo at the train station and we headed over to meet with Mateo, one of the owners of Ensemble Press, who had a box full of the books. It was an incredible feeling to open the box and see my translated work. I handed Mateo copies of El Martillo publications and we discussed a world of possibilities. That night I read at the famed Lettere Caffe with close to two dozen poets as the book made its debut. Many of these poets are noted on the national stage of Italy, as I am coming to understand. This was a great honor and I am still in the process of following up with the many doors and opportunities that appeared to have opened that night.

In Florence, I read at the University in a student-occupied center as part of a larger festival. While there I struck up a fascinating conversation with noted choreographer Cristina Rizo and we discussed her approach to dance and my approach to poetry and found some fascinating points of overlap and differences.

For the readings in Bitonto, Molfetta, and Bari, I spent three days living in an Antifa compound called Ex Secerma, meaning former barracks. The space was once a military barracks and now it was an anarchist co-op of some sort. The readings were set up by Edoardo, through our mutual friend Mark Lipman and their friend Pipo Marzulli, organizer of the poetry festival held there every other year. Pipo is a member of the Revolutionary Poet’s Brigade, an international organization founded by Hirschman, over a decade ago. Its proud legacy continues. Mark had invited me last year to Elba, where I first met Edoardo, alongside Anna Lombardo. They both loved my work so much that they committed to a translation and a publication.

In Turin, I met up with Mateo and David, the owners of Ensemble. I commented what a strange twist of fate as I was starting my own press with my friend David A. Romero. We had a great laugh about this. The festival itself was massive. It was such an honor to be there at the booth with the publisher and to see the size and scope of all the incredible writers that are housed by Ensemble. The translation branch of the press, Affluenti, has also published Dianne Suess. Meeting the Italian book-buying public all happened so fast. We sold quite a few books and we met the public head-on as literally thousands of people were at the event. There was a great deal of interest in the American political landscape. And I answered as best I could through Edoardo.

In Bologna, we took part in a festival of books put on by Seven Foxes, a bookstore that had a strong working relationship with Ensemble. The festival was held in a public park and my reading was followed with a Q & A. The audience was very curious about how I became so politically outspoken and what the dangers were in the U.S. of being as strident as I am. I answered to the best of my ability.

Venice was incredible, really truly one of the most surreal experiences for me. At this point in my life, I can say I have read at the University of Cambridge, at UNAM, at Casa De Las Americas, and now at an international poetry festival held in Venice, Italy. I have the great Anna Lombardo to thank for this. Anna has organized this festival for many years. Anna was a great friend and colleague to Jack Hirschman and working with Anna, for me, it really begins to cement my own legacy as a poet whose work is celebrated on an international level. At the festival, I ran into my old friend, the beat poet laureate of Hungary Gabor Gyukics, who translated and got my work published in three Hungarian literary journals; one of them right next to Sylvia Plath. What an honor that is. I also ran into my great friend Serena Piccoli, one of the best political poets I have ever met, and we talked about the doors that get closed when you speak out in an unapologetic fashion.

In Varese, I caught up with Gaetano and Maria Elena. While there I stayed in Maria Elena’s family home that was built in the 1300’s. That blew my mind. At the house there was a printing press, a work station and a painting studio. Maria Elena and Gaetano are maybe the most natural artists I have ever met. Also would you believe they got us incredible press for their event. In one paper I was compared to Amiri Baraka and Jack Hirschman. What an incredible honor to be compared to such legendary poets in print in another country.

Finally, I made my way to the last show in Colleferro. I was exhausted but it was a different kind of exhaustion. It was an exhaustion informed by a career and legacy-defining trip. It was a satisfied exhaustion. On the train it was announced there was a WWII unexploded bomb on the tracks and the train was delayed. We rushed onto the subway, and rushed from there to the bookstore. We were 15 minutes late to the reading and my head was pounding. The audience was mostly composed of radical teachers who asked the most insightful political questions of the entire trip. I did my best to answer the questions and that was that.

(RL): How did you feel seeing your poems translated into Italian for the first time?

MS: It was incredible to get a hold of the book for the first time. I really do feel as though my life is about to change in a big way. I feel as though all my work, over the years, is beginning to really pay off. I feel as though I am just getting started. To be honest, the biggest feeling I feel right now is relief. It is a confirmation of what those who believed in me have always said about me. I may not have the biggest fanbase but I do have an incredibly passionate one. I have felt pressure over the years to live up to what my biggest supporters have said about me. I have articles in print comparing me to Brecht and Dalton, and others comparing me to Ginsberg. That is a lot of pressure. It is a lot to live up to. I feel like this is a step in the right direction and more than anything, I feel relieved to finally be headed in the right direction.

(RL): Tell us more about the Turin International Book Fair and your experience participating in it.

MS: The Turin International Book Fair is the largest most important book fair in Italy. To have been an invited guest is the stuff dreams are made of. I really hope to do more things like this across the world. I have my eyes set on Guadalajara, Berlin, and Medellin.

(RL): What advice do you have for writers hoping to have their work translated?

MS: My advice to writers wanting to have their work translated, especially speaking to an audience based in the U.S., is first to reverse your thinking on what it means to write. Here in the U.S. we are constantly told that writing is about healing or therapy or something that edifies the author. Writing can be all those things. But if you want people to care about your work, write about things that matter to more people than just yourself. Write not as a matter of personal expression but as a public service. Do that often enough and you will gain international attention. Write about things that matter and write well. Seek international stages. Do those two things at the same time and it may just happen for you as well. Right now I have been translated into three languages and there is talk of a fourth and a fifth. This happened because of both my content and my skill. Work on both.

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Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle." Sedillo was the recipient of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry award, a panelist at the 2020 Texas book festival, a participant in the 2012 San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the 2022 Elba Poetry Festival, and the recipient of the 2022 Dante's Laurel.Sedillo has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Axios, the Associated Press, and La Jornada among other publications. Matt Sedillo is the author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022) as well as Terra Derubate, Vite Derubata (Ensemble Press, 2023). His poetry has been translated and published in Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian. Sedillo is the current literary director of The Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.

Ruddy Lopez is an Executive Assistant and Editor at Community Literature Initiative and Communications Co-Director with Latinx in Publishing. She lives in Inglewood, California, and attended California State University, Long Beach, where she obtained a BA in English Literature and English Education. In her spare time, Ruddy enjoys reading, writing poetry, and exploring what her city has to offer.

Review and Author Q & A: Plátanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso Morris; Illustrated by Mariyah Rahman

I grew up eating platanos: mangú, tostones and maduros (or fritos as we like to call them in our household,) so you can imagine how excited I was when I learned of a children’s book dedicated to one of my first loves!

Plátanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso Morris is a beautiful homage to culture, history, traditions and family. The story starts with a young girl who goes produce shopping with her grandmother. This introduction sets the foundation for the journey in which the little girl takes the reader. As she learns from her grandmother how to cook plátanos, in a variety of ways, she also learns about the importance that they hold in her ancestral history. Ultimately, we find the young girl passing on the knowledge of what her grandmother has taught her, in the kitchen, to her little sister; giving us a full circle heartfelt moment.

The book is filled with wondrous attention to detail, starting with the beautiful bright illustrations by Mariyah Rahman. From the grandmothers hoop earrings, to the array of hairstyles on the characters, I felt seen. The Spanish interwoven throughout the story, welcomes us to a Spanglish filled world; one many of us can recognize. However, it’s the reader care that we see via a glossary, for those unfamiliar with the Spanish words, and the recipes for the wonderful dishes, mentioned throughout the book, that really brings the book together.

I had the opportunity to ask Alyssa Reynoso Morris a few questions about Plátanos Are Love. She spoke about the inspiration behind the book, the importance of knowing our history, what we can expect next from her and of course, how she prefers her plátanos.

““Plátanos Are Love” by Alyssa Reynoso Morris is a beautiful homage to culture, history, traditions and family. ”

Tiffany Gonzalez (TG): What or who inspired you to write this book? 

Alyssa Reynoso Morris (ARM): I wanted to be a writer since I was 7 years old because I grew up with my Abuela—the original storyteller. She had a second-grade education, but that didn’t stop her from telling the best stories that captivated EVERYONE’S attention. I remember looking up to her and wanting to be like her. I think she knew that because she would rope me into “helping” her tell her stories. These are some of my fondest memories as well as the time we spent in the kitchen together. My love of my Abuela, her stories, and the food we made together inspired Plátanos Are Love.

TG: Immediately, I was drawn in by the Spanish words and loved the strong presence that "Spanglish" had throughout the book. It reminded me of my upbringing and of my day to day, in all honesty. Was that always the intention or did that come later on in the process of bringing this book together? 

ARM: I love this question. The Spanglish was intentional. Growing up I spoke Spanish at home and English in school. Then as I got older my English proficiency outpaced my Spanish. I found myself speaking in Spanish and in Spanglish every chance I got to preserve the language. With time I learned to take pride in my Spanglish and my goal with my writing is for it to be as authentic as possible. When I started writing it I had sprinkled in Spanish and fortunately my editor asked me to lean into it more, so I did and I'm proud of what we created.

TG: The history of our ancestors played a very important role in the book. Can you speak on why this was important for you to highlight?

ARM: I'm a political science major and I'm obsessed with how our history affects our present. Growing up I learned about Trujillo and the Parsley Massacre but I didn't learn about slavery and colonization until I was in school. I think it's important for kids to learn where they come from. I think kids should know how resilient their ancestors were so they know they are also resilient and can do anything they set their mind to. 

TG: It's essential for kids to see books that reflect their cultures; that reflect who they are. The one book I read as a child that highlighted Dominican culture has stayed with me till this day. Will you be continuing this work with future projects? Can we expect other aspects of Dominican/Puerto Rican culture or even just latinidad highlighted? 

ARM: I love this question and the answer is YES you can expect more Latinidad to come in my future works. My Dominican and Puerto Rican culture and experiences are such huge parts of my identity and storytelling that I can't tell stories without incorporating it in. My second book The Bronx Is My Home is a love letter to the Bronx from the perspective of a Black Puertorican boy. There are references to Latiné heroes like Sonia Sotomayor and AOC. My third book is called Gloriana Presente: A First Day of School Book and it starts with Gloriana's Abuela soothes her first day of school nerves by telling her stories about their family home in la República Dominicana. Gloriana is uncertain about how to exist between her two homes, or how to make new friends between her two languages. This imaginative picture book celebrates the magic of existing in-between, and the transformative power of self-soothing to build confidence. I think immigrants and particularly the Latiné/x/o community will resonate with the text. 

TG: Okay, if you had to choose one: tostones, maduros or mangú? And why? 

ARM: Asking me to pick one is like asking me what my favorite book is. I just can't choose one because it really depends on my mood. When I want something sweet I go for maduros. When I want something crispy I go for tostones. Mangú is great when I want to feel full and am trying to be healthier as it's not fried. I also love mofongo, pastelon, and alcapurias but we needed to edit them out of the book because the manuscript was getting too long.

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Alyssa Reynoso-Morris is a queer Afro-Latinx Dominican and Puerto Rican writer, wife, mother, and community organizer. During the day she is a chief of staff working with community members, nonprofit organizations, and government officials to make the world a better place. Then she puts her writer's hat on to craft heartfelt stories about home, family, food, and the fun places she has been. Alyssa was born and raised in the Bronx and currently lives in Philadelphia with her partner and daughter. Alyssa is honored to be a Musa with Las Musas Books which celebrates the diversity of voice, experience, and power of Latinx children's authors. She hopes you enjoy her stories. You can visit her website at alyssaauthor.com.

Mariyah Rahman was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. She spent her earliest years climbing trees, digging for fossils, and drawing on walls with crayons. Today she is an illustrator for children's books and entertainment but has still never found a fossil.

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 National Book Award Fiction Finalist 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

Interview with 2023 Whiting Award Fiction Winner Carribean Fragoza

Carribean Fragoza, author of the critically-acclaimed story collection Eat The Mouth That Feeds You, is one of the latest winners of a Whiting Award! The Whiting Awards are given annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. They are based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work to come. We were excited to catch up with Carribean and ask her a few questions.

Toni Kirkpatrick (TK): What was your first thought after you learned you won a Whiting Award?

Carribean Fragoza (CF): I flickered between two feelings, the first one being the feeling of being fully seen. This feels odd to say because I know that people I consider my community have been seeing me and my work for a long time. But when I took that phone call from the Whiting, and they told me how much time and energy had been invested into following and selecting each of the winners, I experienced maybe a different kind of care in that level of attention. The other feeling I kept flickering into was astonishment which is a kind of detachment from any one emotion or thought. Like is this really happening to me? I’m still sort of cycling between these, plus the thrill/mild terror of “what comes next?”

(TK): You have long been doing work to shed light on the culture and history of South El Monte. How does your hometown influence your fiction?

(CF): South El Monte and El Monte are almost always in my fiction. Sometimes it’s more in the forefront as a specific set of locations that I have in mind for my stories and sometimes it’s more of a mood or vibe. South El Monte and El Monte have a very distinguishable vibe. I see and feel it when I go back home to visit and I can see it in your Bolero of Andi Rowe collection, Toni, as well as in Michael Jaime-Becerra and Salvador Plascencia’s work. Also, every time I’m back in SEM/EM, I notice something new or something will catch my eye and it will immediately inspire something in me. They might be very ordinary things, like a mother pushing a stroller down the street or a kid eating a popsicle, but I feel them very deeply.

(TK): You are also the Prose Editor for Huizache, which made its return last year. What are you seeing these days from Latine writers and what excites you? 

(CF): I’m very honored to be on board as Huizache’s Prose editor. And so far, what has excited me the most is work that feels urgent and necessary. These are stories that feel like they need to be told and something very important is at stake for the narrator and other characters (and the author!). The style and risks that writers are taking are responding to the world with all of its beautiful and awful complexities. The voices they are developing in the work are forged from survival and wrought with sharp intelligence. There's a lot of power there.

(TK): What is your advice for Latine writers as they seek to publish their work and find recognition?

(CF): I suppose the best advice I can think of right now is to encourage writers to write stories that feel essential to them and to bring forward voices that are clear, strong, and have something that they need to say. Get in touch with the raw nerve of the story and others will feel it too. And perhaps more importantly: JUST KEEP WRITING. The publishing and awards will come, but most often we don’t have a lot of control over that as writers. But writers gotta write. And writers have to keep learning and growing and getting better. With that said, we also need more Latine/Latinx editors, agents, and other publishing industry folks to create a literary ecosystem that is more supportive of Latine/Latinx writers.

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Carribean Fragoza is a fiction and nonfiction writer from South El Monte, CA. Her collection of stories Eat the Mouth That Feeds You was published in 2021 by City Lights and was a finalist for a 2022 PEN Award. Her co-edited compilation of essays, East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte was published by Rutgers University Press and her collection of essays Writing Home: New Terrains of California is forthcoming with Angel City Press. She has published in Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times, Zyzzyva, Alta, BOMB, Huizache, KCET, the Los Angeles Review of Books, ArtNews, and Aperture Magazine. She is the Prose Editor at Huizache Magazine and Creative Nonfiction and Poetry Editor at Boom California, a journal of UC Press. Fragoza is the founder and co-director of South El Monte Arts Posse, an interdisciplinary arts collective. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Greater Los Angeles.

Toni (Plummer) Kirkpatrick grew up in South El Monte, California. A Latinx in Publishing board member, she lives in the Hudson Valley, where she acquires, edits, and writes fiction.

Interview with Margo Candela author of The Neapolitan Sisters

Latinx In Publishing had the opportunity to ask Margo Candela a few questions about The Neapolitan Sisters: A Novel of Heritage and Home.

Latinx In Publishing (LxP): Where did the inspiration for the novel come from?

Margo Candela (MC): Writers are like memory magpies, constantly collecting random bits and pieces of life that might not make sense in the moment, but are too interesting to ignore or forget. When the idea for The Neapolitan Sisters came to me, it already had its beginning, middle and end. Although it was fiction, the story and characters were familiar to me in a way that I still have a hard time explaining. While the inspiration for The Neapolitan Sisters came both from my imagination and from being observant, what really set this novel apart from my previous work was my intention for writing it. I wanted to challenge myself as a writer, but I also wanted to allow my characters to be flawed, difficult and complicated without excuse or apology. 

LxP: One of the primary themes within the story are the types of relationships that exist within families, but also outside of them. Can you talk a bit about the importance for you to highlight that?

MC: It's important, sometimes more so, for my characters to have an identity that’s not based on being a son or daughter, sister or brother, husband or wife, mother or father. How they function separately from those roles is one I like to explore because a lot of times, Latina and Latino characters don’t get to move away from that primary identifier of who and what they are. When they're navigating life in a larger social circle and away from family, they find themselves relating to friends, partners, workmates with the same skill set that either serves them or keeps them from moving beyond dysfunctional dynamics.

LxP: The sisters dealt with a lot of trauma that they all dealt with in their own various ways. Can you speak on your writing process, how you decided on each of the sisters' journeys, and how they would complement each other?

MC: Having three main characters who told their story in first person was a natural way to delve into how Dulcina, Claudia and Maritza would each be affected individually by their shared trauma. Even though they spent their childhood and teens together, they don't interpret that period of their lives in the same way, but they are strongly bonded because of it. Knowing this about them meant I had to let each sister go where she needed to go, even if it made me uncomfortable or took me by surprise. Once I allowed myself to just write what felt right for each sister, I was able to give all three of them added depth and humanity by accepting their flaws as part of who they needed to be. I really love these sisters and it was such a joy, even if sometimes a painful one, to get to know them and bring them to life.

LxP: What can readers expect to gain from reading The Neapolitan Sisters?

MC: The Neapolitan Sisters is about finding compassion and love not only for others, but for oneself. Dulcina, Claudia and Maritza’s acceptance of who they are to each other is the greatest gift they can both give and receive. Compassion, love, and acceptance are essential components to intimate relationships and the Bernal sisters are, to different degrees, able to realize this by the end of the novel. Once they do, they’re able to move forward with their lives, and also be in each other’s lives. This doesn’t always happen in real life, but it can in books which is why I’m so grateful that The Neapolitan Sisters was published after so many years of waiting for me to be brave enough to write it as best as I could.

ACCESS THE BOOK CLUB KIT HERE.

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Margo Candela was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her writing career when she joined Glendale Community College’s student newspaper. She transferred to San Francisco State University as a journalism major, and upon graduation began writing for websites and magazines before writing her first two novels, Underneath It All and Life Over Easy. She returned to Los Angeles to raise her son and wrote More Than This and Good-bye to All That. The Neapolitan Sisters is her fifth novel and her first after a decade-long hiatus from writing. She now lives in San Francisco. Learn more at MargoCandela.com.