Registration is now open for The Comadres and Compadres Writers Conference, that will be held September 27 at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, Brooklyn. This year’s keynote speaker is Puerto Rican author Esmeralda Santiago.
Las Comadres Para Las Americas, the national Latina organization, will present a day-long conference on September 27 for Latino writers seeking book publication.
The Comadres and Compadres Writers Conference will be held at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, Brooklyn. Joining La Comadres as collaborators are Scholastic, WNYC, Medgar Evers College, CUNY: National Black Writers Conference, the English Department, and the ALAS-Association for Latin American Studies, Adriana Dominguez, and Marcela Landres, with support from the Association of American Publishers.
The conference will help attendees navigate the challenges and opportunities specific to Latino writers. Scheduled panels will focus on children’s/young adult writing, self-publishing, fiction, and non-fiction as well as craft workshops for adult and children’s books. Two of the more popular sessions are a pitch slam and an agents/editors panel. In addition, writers will have the option to meet one-on-one with agents and editors.
Participants currently include: Sandra Rodriguez Barron, author of Stay With Me; Chris Campanioni, author of Going Down; Joanna Cárdenas – Assistant Editor, Viking Children’s Books (Penguin Random House); Johanna Castillo, Vice President & Senior Editor, Atria/Simon & Schuster; Suzan Colón, author of Beach Glass; Pablo de la Vega – Indent Literary Agency; Shelley Diaz, Associate Editor, School Library Journal; Adriana Dominguez – Literary Agent, Full Circle Literary; Mercedes Fernandez – Assistant Editor, Kensington Publishing; Alina García-Lapuerta, author of the biography La Belle Creole: The Cuban countess; Daisy Hernández, author of A Cup of Water Under My Bed; Dawn Michelle Hardy – Associate Agent, Serendipity Literary Agency; Luis Jaramillo, Associate Chair, New School Writing Program; Marcela Landres, Editorial Consultant; Toni Kirkpatrick – Editor, Thomas Dunne Books (imprint of St. Martin’s Press); Meg Medina, author of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass; Nancy Mercado – Editorial Director, Scholastic; Karen Quinones Miller, author of Satin Doll; Andrea Montejo – Founder, Indent Literary Agency; Lukas Ortiz – Managing Agent, Spitzer Agency; Jeff Ourvan – Literary Agent, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency; Eileen Robinson – Founder/Editor, F1rstPages.com; José Luis Vilson, author of This is Not a Test; Lila Quintero Weaver, author ofDarkroom: A Memoir in Black and White; Stacy Whitman – Publisher, Tu Books (imprint of Lee & Low Books).
This year’s keynote speaker is renowned Puerto Rican author, Esmeralda Santiago. Santiago’s first book, the memoir When I Was Puerto Rican, was published in 1994. Her first novel, America’s Dream, followed in 1996 and was made into a film. In 1998 her second memoir Almost a Woman received numerous “Best of Year” mentions in addition to an Alex Award from the American Library Association. She adapted the memoir into a film for PBS Masterpiece Theatre that won a George Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Her 2004 memoir, The Turkish Lover was praised for the unflinching story of her relationship with an older man and her years at Harvard. Her most recent work,Conquistadora, is a New York Times best-selling novel. She also has written an essay for the Las Comadres anthology: Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships, published in English in 2012 and in Spanish in 2013.
For further information contact:
Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D.,Las Comadres Para Las Americas, noracomstockphd@lascomadres.org, (512) 751-783 or click here.
