NEW YORK - February 24, 2020 - Today Latinx in Publishing announced the launch of the Writers Mentorship Program--set to run from February 1, 2020 - October 31, 2020. The program offers unpublished and/or unagented writers who identify as Latinx the opportunity to strengthen their craft, gain industry knowledge, and expand their professional connections by working directly with experienced published authors who identify as Latinx.
The program kicks off with 11 critically acclaimed and award-winning authors and poets as mentors: Monica Brown, author of Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos; Paola Capó-García, author of Clap for Me That’s Not Me; Katrina Carrasco, author of The Best Bad Things; Lulu Delacre, three-time Pura Belpré Award Honoree and author/illustrator of Luci Soars; Christina Diaz Gonzalez, author of The Red Umbrella; Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, author of Children of the Land: A Memoir; Gabino Iglesias, author of Coyote Songs; Toni Margarita Plummer, author of The Bolero of Andi Rowe; Ruben Quesada, poetry editor at AGNI and author of Revelations; Sabrina Sol, author of Delicious Temptation; and Francisco X. Stork, author of Disappeared
The 2020 class of mentees includes: Julianne Aguilar, Gustavo A. Barahona-López, Camille Corbett, Yesenia Flores Diaz, Brigid Martin, Aline Mello, Brenda Miller, Ofelia Montelongo, Jordan Pérez, Angela Pico, and Andrew Siañez-De La O.
“When you look around your local bookstore or library, Latinx books only make a fraction of what is being published today,” said Sophia Jimenez, co-director of the mentorship program. “It is our goal to bridge the gap and help new rising Latinx voices find the support they need within their own community by connecting them with published Latinx authors, who will be the people best equipped to understand their stories and perspectives,” mentioned co-director of the program, Carolina Ortiz.
Mentors and mentees will coordinate their own schedules and must connect for at least one hour per month over the course of the ten-month program.
Please visit www.Latinxinpublishing.com/Mentorship for more information.
ABOUT LATINX IN PUBLISHING INC
Latinx in Publishing (LxP) is a nonprofit network of book professionals committed to supporting and increasing the number of Latinx in the publishing industry, as well as promoting literature by, for, and about Latinx people. Members include professionals from all facets of publishing at various career stages. Members benefit from this community through shared resources, support, and mentorship. In addition to networking, Latinx in Publishing also hosts professional development events in NYC and online. We are committed to doing outreach and participating in school career fairs as well as building partnerships with organizations and publishers that seek to promote diversity. For more information please visit www.latinxinpublishing.com.
ABOUT WRITERS MENTORHIP PROGRAM
The Latinx in Publishing Writers Mentorship Program is a volunteer-based initiative that offers the opportunity for unpublished and/or unagented writers who identify as Latinx (mentees) to strengthen their craft, gain first-hand industry knowledge, and expand their professional connections by working with experienced published authors (mentors) who identify as Latinx. Participants must be located in the US (including Puerto Rico) and be at least 18 years of age during the course of the program.
ABOUT MENTORSHIP DIRECTORS
Sophia Jimenez is an Assistant Editor at the Junior Library Guild, which recommends the best children’s books coming out each month to libraries and schools across the country. She was previously in editorial at Simon & Schuster for two years and, before that, worked at the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. She interned at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and got her start in publishing with an internship for Badgerdog Publishing in Austin, Texas, her hometown. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Denver Publishing Institute. Find her on Twitter @SophiaJay42
Carolina Ortiz is an Associate Editor at HarperCollins Children’s. She works on a variety of projects from board books to young adult. Before her time at HarperCollins, she worked as a marketing and publicity associate at an independent press. She has also interned at Running Press, Quirk Books, and powerHouse Books, while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. With a special place in her heart for Latinx and queer stories, Carolina is excitedly building a list that reflects the diverse world around us and that would allow readers to feel seen in the books they read—a feeling that she rarely experienced in her childhood. Find her on Twitter at @pushthepanorama.
ABOUT MENTORS
Monica Brown is the author of the LOLA LEVINE chapter book series, SARAI chapter book series and many award-winning picture books including Waiting for the Biblioburro (illus. by John Parra, Random House), Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald no combina (illus. by Sara Palacios, Lee & Low), and Maya's Blanket/La manta de Maya (illus. by David Diaz, Lee & Low). Her picture book biographies include Tito Puente: Mambo King/ Tito Puente: Rey del mambo (illus. by Rafael López, HarperCollins), and Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People (illus. by Julie Paschikas, Holt). Her picture book Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos (illus. by John Parra, NorthSouth) was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2017 and 2018 Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration. Her latest book, Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano/Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello, illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, will be out from Lee and Low on May 12th. Monica's books have received multiple starred reviews, Pura Belpré Honors, and Américas Awards, as well as an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor for best nonfiction and The Christopher Award, among many others. Monica's books are inspired by her Peruvian and Jewish heritage and desire to bring diverse stories to children. She is a professor of English at Northern Arizona University. Monica lives with her family in Arizona.
Paola Capó-García is the author of CLAP FOR ME THAT’S NOT ME (Rescue Press, 2018), selected by D.A. Powell as the winner of Rescue Press' 2017 Black Box Poetry Prize. She earned a BS in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University, an MA in English from UC Davis, and an MFA in Creative Writing from UC San Diego. Her poems have appeared in Puerto Rico en mi corazón, Latino Book Review, jubilat, Poetry Society of America, Academy of American Poets, and others. Originally from San Juan, PR, she now lives in San Diego, CA, where she teaches 12th grade English.
Katrina Carrasco is queer and Latinx, with roots in Southern California and home in Seattle, WA. Katrina received her MFA in Fiction in 2015, and has had stories and essays published by Witness, Literary Hub, CrimeReads, and other outlets. Her debut novel, THE BEST BAD THINGS (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), won a 2018 Shamus Award and was a Lambda Literary Award and Washington State Book Award finalist. She is working on a new novel.
Three-time Pura Belpré Award honoree Lulu Delacre has been writing and illustrating children's books since 1980. The New York Times bestselling artist was born and raised in Puerto Rico to Argentinean parents. Delacre says her Latinx heritage and her life experiences inform her work. Her 40 titles include Arroz con Leche: Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America, a Horn Book Fanfare Book in print for 30 years. Her bilingual picture book ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Olinguito, from A to Z! and her story collection Us, in Progress: Short Stories About Young Latinos have received multiple starred reviews and awards. Her latest works are the art for Turning Pages by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Luci Soars. Delacre has lectured internationally and served as a juror for the National Book Awards. She has exhibited at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, and the Zimmerli Art Museum, among other venues. Reading is Fundamental honored her with a Champion of Children’s Literacy Award. For more visit her at www.luludelacre.com.
Christina Diaz Gonzalez is the award-winning author of several books including THE RED UMBRELLA, A THUNDEROUS WHISPER, MOVING TARGET, RETURN FIRE, and STORMSPEAKER (the 7th book in the SPIRIT ANIMALS: FALL OF THE BEASTS series). Her books have received numerous honors including the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, the Florida Book Award, the Nebraska Book Award and the International Latino Book Award. Publications such as Publishers Weekly, The Miami Herald, School Library Journal and The Washington Post have called her novels exciting, engrossing and compelling. Christina currently lives in Miami, Florida with her husband, sons, and a dog that can open doors.
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo’s most recent book is Children of the Land: A Memoir (Harper Collins 2020). He is also the author of Cenzontle, winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. prize (BOA Editions 2018), winner of the 2019 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, The Foreword Indies bronze prize, The Golden Poppy Award from N.C.B.I.A, and a finalist for the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, The Thom Gunn Award from the Publishing Triangle, the Lambda Literary Award, and named a best book of 2018 by NPR and the New York Public Library. His first chapbook, Dulce, was the winner of the Drinking Gourd Prize published by Northwestern University Press. As one of the founders of the Undocupoets campaign, he was the first undocumented student to graduate from the Helen Zell Writers Program at the University of Michigan. He lives in Northern California where he teaches poetry to incarcerated youth and also teaches at the Ashland University Low-Res MFA program.
Gabino Iglesias is a writer, editor, journalist, and book reviewer living in Austin, Texas. He is the author of COYOTE SONGS, ZERO SAINTS (both from Broken River Books), and GUTMOUTH (Eraserhead Press). He is the book reviews editor at PANK Magazine, the TV/film editor at Entropy Magazine, and a columnist for LitReactor and CLASH Media. His nonfiction has appeared in places like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the LA Times, El Nuevo Día, and other venues. The stuff that's made up has been published in places like Red Fez, Flash Fiction Offensive, Drunk Monkeys, Bizarro Central, Paragraph Line, Divergent Magazine, Cease, Cows, and many horror, crime, surrealist, and bizarro anthologies. When not writing or reading, he has worked as a dog whisperer, witty communications professor, and ballerina assassin. His reviews are published in places like NPR, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Criminal Element, The Rumpus, Heavy Feather Review, Atticus Review, Entropy, HorrorTalk, Necessary Fiction, Crimespree, and other print and online venues. He teaches at SNHU's MFA program. You can find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.
Toni Margarita Plummer is a Macondista, a winner of the Miguel Mármol Prize, and the author of the story collection The Bolero of Andi Rowe. Last year she won Honorable Mention for the Reynolds Price Prize in Fiction given by the Center for Women Writers. Plummer earned a Master of Professional Writing from USC and is a contributor to the anthologies Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity and East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte. Originally from the Los Angeles area, she has worked in book publishing for more than a decade and now lives with her family in the Hudson Valley.
Founder of the Latinx Writers Caucus, Ruben Quesada is the author of Revelations and Next Extinct Mammal. He has taught poetry at Northwestern University, The School of the Art Institute, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and UCLA Writers’ Program. He served formerly as contributing editor of Chicago Review of Books, essays editor of The Rumpus, and blogger at Ploughshares. Currently, he serves as a blogger at Kenyon Review and as poetry editor at AGNI.
Sabrina Sol is the chica who loves love. She writes sexy romance stories featuring smart and strong Latina heroines in search of their Happily Ever Afters. She lives in Southern California with her husband, three kids, two Beagles and one very lazy Bulldog. Sabrina is also part of a larger, extended Mexican family whose members are NOT the source of inspiration for her characters. Or so she tells them. Sabrina and her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, PopSugar and on Book Riot’s list of “100 Must Read Romantic Comedies.” To learn more, visit www.sabrinasol.com.
Francisco X. Stork came to El Paso, Texas from Mexico when he was nine-years old. He has an M.A from Harvard University and a J.D from Columbia Law School. He worked as an attorney for thirty-three years, including fifteen years with an affordable-housing state agency, while writing six of his eight novels. Marcelo in the Real World is the recipient of the Schneider Award. The Last Summer of the Death Warriors received the Elizabeth Walden Award. The Memory of Light received the Tomás Rivera Award. His novel Disappeared is the 2018 recipient of the Young Adult Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor Book. Illegal will be published in August of 2020.
