Latina Authors Team Up to Control Their Destiny

Latin Heat Online Posted on 03-08-2007

Latina Authors Team Up To Control Their Destiny
Names I Call My Sister To Hit Shelves May 8

Costa Mesa, CA -- Two years ago, fellow authors Mary Castillo, Berta Platas, Sofia Quintero and Lynda Sandoval, came up with the concept of a sexy, smart-alecky and honest anthology about sisters. Within a month, they sold the proposal to HarperCollins Avon A. That concept is now an anthology titled, Names I Call My Sister (ISBN: 978-0060890230, $13.95) to be released May 8, 2007.

In the larger picture, Names I Call My Sister was an opportunity for Castillo, Platas, Quintero and Sandoval to bring stories that appeal to the thoroughly modern Latina reader.
“Unfortunately, all of us can tell you at least one story about an agent or editor who told us to write ‘more Latina’, or, told us out right that Latinos don’t buy books,” Castillo said. “Now that we’re proving that Latinas come in many varieties and that they do indeed buy books, this anthology was our chance to make a difference in publishing.”

Platas, Quintero and Castillo had worked together on the anthology, Friday Night Chicas (St. Martins Griffin, $12.95), which was a concept devised by their editor. The three authors thought that Lynda Sandoval's voice was a good fit, and invited her to join them.

“Well, for me it's not so much how Latinos are portrayed in the media. It's more that there is not enough representation outside of the stereotypes,” Sandoval said. “The truth is, with all ethnicities, we're more alike than different. We love the same, we laugh the same, we cry the same, and we strive for similar goals.”

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