Loving Latino lit
Hispanic authors, topics hot among book publishers
By Heather Grimshaw
Special to The Denver Post
reprinted with permission by the author
Publisher HarperCollins launched a Latino imprint in 2001. New York agents have started to recruit Latino authors; two new national book clubs specialize in Spanish-language books; and 2003 was designated "The Year of Publishing Latino Voices for America" by the American Association of Publishers.
The term Latino literature includes authors from Mexico, throughout Central and South America, as well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic who - and here is the primary distinction - live in the United States. By comparison, nationally acclaimed Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of "Love In The Time of Cholera," is described as a Colombian novelist. "If he were to come to New York he may start floating in Latino circles, but he is a Latin American writer," explained Adriana Lopez, editor of Criticas, a publication that reviews Spanish-language books for libraries, schools and booksellers in English.
An amorphous definition, Latino was used for the first time by the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. "Latino is a way of letting people identify themselves on their own terms," says Marcela Landres, an editorial consultant and Latino publishing specialist in New York. "It's a more modern term."
Latinos are not new to the literary community. Authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Julia Alvarez and Isabel Allende, to name a few, have written best-selling books for years. But the past two years publishers have started courting Latino readers. HarperCollins launched Rayo, a Latino imprint, Random House released Allende's book "Portrait in Sepia" in Spanish hardback before the English version in America, and Publishers Weekly launched Criticas.
"Publishers are now targeting Spanish readers," says Lopez. "It's been an untapped market and now people are being aggressive with it. They realize that it's fertile ground."
Lisa Murillo, senior librarian at the Byers Branch library in Denver, sees increased interest in the category.
"I see more books coming out by Latino authors, more teachers needing books for curriculum, and more parents requesting books for their kids," says Murillo, president of the Colorado chapter for the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. "It's like there's this great need out there that's being fulfilled. But there is still a gap. There's a lot more that can be done."
Rayo Books, which released Denver-based author Marisol's novel "The Lady, The Chef, And The Courtesan," publishes 25 titles in English and Spanish annually to widen the scope of readers, though many Latino authors speak English as their first language. "You can't publish books for Latinos without having a bilingual component," says Rene Alegria, editorial director for Rayo Books. "This way the full spectrum of the Hispanic community can read our books."
Community interest rising in Latino books
And that community is reading. Criticas feeds its bestseller list to Jorge Ramos, a Latino author, journalist, and hosts book club Despierta Leyendo (Wake Up Reading) once a month on the Spanish-language television network Univision. Booksellers report increased interest in books that are featured. "If a book is on Jorge Ramos' show people ask about it in bookstores," says Lopez.
With increased attention to the category, more questions are being raised about the Latino label from book community members who say it is part of American literature and should not bear an ethnic label.
"Nobody talks about the fact that Eugene O'Neill is Irish Catholic; it doesn't matter," says Marcus Embry, Ph.D., who teaches Latina/o (which represent feminine and masculine authors) Studies at The University of Northern Colorado.
Others cite powerful political, social and educational advantages to highlighting Latino authors in classrooms, advertising Spanish-English titles in bookstores, and showcasing the marketing theme Aye Leyendo! (Get Caught Reading) in libraries. They argue that the efforts draw Latinos into the literary fold, allow students to learn about successful authors from similar backgrounds and highlight cultural and political contributions made by Latinos in America.
And then there are those who say labeling is inevitable in America.
"In the U.S. we are constantly boxed, labeled," says Lopez. "Everything has a label, whether it's gay literature or South American literature. There's a necessity for it. In a way (Latino literature) might otherwise get overlooked without a special label. It's the nature of the book business to make categories, but hopefully down the line (the Latino author) can be seen as just another writer."
For Elena Aranda, a bookseller in Boulder, the Latino label is why she decides to carry a book. She stocks a wide range of Spanish-language books at Educarte, a bookstore where children's books, self-help books and nonfiction titles about Mexican culture are most popular. "When Latinos read, they want to read something about themselves," says Aranda.
From a publisher's perspective, Alegria defines Latino literature as a new American voice in letters. "They are stories of the human condition in all its very real details, both comic and tragic," he says.
Once defined as books written by Latinos about the Latino experience, Latino literature spans all genres and encompasses a myriad of subjects from romance and mystery to poetry, thrillers and chick-lit. Some readers make a mental leap from Latino literature to magical realism, a South American literary tradition, folkloric prose and quaint Catholic stories, though the content is as unique and diverse as its authors.
"Lots of Latinos are just regular Joes without spirits bouncing off the walls or mothers who juggle knives," says Embry. "I change books every time I teach the course and steer clear of magical hooey."
Names of Latina authors - such as Sheila Ortiz Taylor, who writes about Latinas in the Deep South, and Christina Garcia, whose book "Monkey Hunting" features a Chinese Cuban - roll off his tongue. "Authors are redefining what constitutes ethnicity," says Embry, who hopes that confusion over Latino literature will prompt closer inspection. "It's good to be confused, then you feel the text. That's what makes it interesting. Latino literature is going through a constant evolution, and emerging Latino writers are not writing about the Latino experience."
For example, "Matchstick Men" by Eric Garcia (2002) is detective fiction that "doesn't deal with Latino issues," says Embry. "It has nothing to do with Latinos. We annoy the others because we say it's Latino literature if it's written by a Latino author. It's a huge political argument over what constitutes Latino literature."
The summer release and widespread success of "The Dirty Girl's Social Club," by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, addresses the Latina experience in a way that crosses established readership boundaries.
"Alisa broke the mold," says Landres. "Her characters shatter stereotypes that all Latina literature is coming-of-age stories set in the projects about barefoot and illiterate peasants. Alisa has made history in the same way Terry McMillan (author of "Waiting to Exhale") did for African-American readers. Her (McMillan's) characters were simply American and happened to be black."
Valdes-Rodriguez is one of several new voices in Latino literature, says Lopez, who adds, "You're going to see a lot more selection" within the category. For example, Felicia Luna Lemus, author of "Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties" (Farrar Straus Giroux, September 2003), writes about Latina lesbians in California.
'Untapped buying power'
These new voices reflect the modern Latino experience, which often mirrors that of other Americans of the same age group.
"As a Latina, it doesn't matter that my parents are from Ecuador," says Landres. "I have more in common with friends who I shared TV shows with, read magazines and listened to radio shows with than I do with my cousins from Ecuador."
Interest in Latino nonfiction titles is also on the rise, says Lopez, who referred to "Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America," by Ed Morales (LA Weekly Books, March, 2002) and "Brown: The Last Discovery of America," by Richard Rodriguez (Penguin, March, 2003).
At its core, Latino literature "connects people through language and cultural traditions," says Manuel Ramos, local author of "Brown on Brown" (Northwestern University Press, 2003), the sixth of a mystery series, who teaches Chicano Literature at Metro State in Denver. "The huge conglomerate publishing houses see the demographics and realize that Latinos are now the largest minority group in the country (and) that represents untapped buying power."
Harnessing that buying power is one of the goals of the AAP Latino campaign, which aims to track how and where Latinos buy their books. Informing those book decisions is Aye Leyendo and the Spanish book club Mosaico launched by online book club and bookseller BOOKSPAN. The Latino literature campaign, which culminates with an industry seminar Nov. 7 in New York, will showcase Latino authors and encourage booksellers to promote books. "We are trying to raise the profile (of Latino literature) within the industry, to show booksellers why they need to stock these books," says Kathryn Blough, vice president of the American Association of Publishers.
The campaign grew out of an AAP meeting to discuss how booksellers should display English and Spanish versions of books and began to take shape in 2002. "We realized that this was a much bigger issue," said Blough. "Our goal is to build a bridge between the Latino author and non-Latino reader. These books appeal to all audiences."
Book professionals agree the appeal of Latino literature is widespread, but say there are many hurdles to cross in an industry that has historically slighted Latinos.
"I hear people say, 'Those people don't shop in my store,' and I get the wind knocked out of me," says Alegria of Rayo. "We're trying to get people to pay attention to the art we produce, to the overall culture. And as a friend of mine once said, 'It all starts with a good story."'
Narrowing your audience
Bridging the gap between audiences is a charged debate within literary circles. Some say marketing efforts for Latino literature should focus on creating a strong niche category, while others argue that appealing to mainstream audiences is best. Using the ethnic label will be a topic of discussion at the AAP "Publishing Latino Voices" seminar.
"There is a North American obsession with categories, classes and labels for people, art, music," says Ramos. "You narrow your audience by putting a Latino label on (a book) when the only test should be whether it's good writing. There are so many different kinds of authors, labels become irrelevant."
Alegria agrees. "We live in an age of labels, (but Latino) is an intricate, complex tag and to pigeonhole Latino books does a lot of harm. It gets into murky territory."
To Landres, who worked as an acquisition editor for Simon & Schuster, such qualifiers are crystal clear. "From my point of view, whatever you can do to stand out as an author is a good thing. I advise authors to identify themselves as Latino."
And while the author may be Latino, the book should be of interest to readers of all backgrounds and ages, says Alegria. "These are books every American should read. The early 21st century will be remembered as a bit of an Hispanic literature renaissance, a very hopeful time in American history that was primarily engineered by the Hispanic community."
