Salutations, Anna! So excited to finally be interviewing you! Inquiring minds want to know how you found your way to becoming a kidlit author. Do tell!
Happy to share my story! Ever since poetry week in fifth grade, I was hooked and I knew I wanted to be a writer. The eleven-year-old me would write poems for classmates in exchange for snacks and erasers. I continued to write in high school, college and grad school, but as I got older, I kept choosing other things for my occupation, from urban planning to government work and eventually to teaching. In 2020, I decided to prioritize my writing, so I began a year-long short story writing workshop, focused on adult literary fiction.
While one of my stories was being workshopped, my instructor told me my stories were very YA. It wasn't something I had even considered before. She sent me the application for the Las Hermanas Mentorship program with Las Musas, a selection-based mentorship program that connects traditionally unpublished Latinx kidlit writers and illustrators with Madrinas, established Latinx kidlit authors. In 2021, I was selected as an Hermanas mentee, and that was it! I am forever grateful to my instructor for opening my eyes to the possibility of kidlit!
I was delighted as I worked with my amazing mentor, e. E. Charlton-Trujillo, who helped me develop a crazy mess of a short story into a full length middle grade novel by asking me to write one chapter per week and giving me incredible feedback that pushed the story beyond what I could imagine. I also read A LOT of kidlit to learn craft, and also because I couldn't stop (the books were so good!) Then, in 2021, I met Ellen Goff (who would later become my agent) at the Maryland Writer's Conference. Ellen understood the heart of my characters and believed in this wild, yet relatable story I was trying to tell. A few months later I signed with her. From the start, I had a lot of help along the way. I relied heavily on my community of other writers to push this story and make me a better writer.
That is often the way in the world of kidlit--published authors and illustrators helping those who are unpublished find their way. So what inspired you to write your book MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE ?
So many things! It all started with a question. Someone asked me if I remember the first time I got my period. All of a sudden, it came back to me. I was eleven and visiting my mother's side of the family in Guatemala City. I was standing on top of a slide in Burger King. My second cousins were taunting me for my (at the time) thick accent in Spanish. The question and memory inspired me so much that when I got home I wrote a story about a Guatemalan-American girl obsessed with getting her period and eager to enter womanhood. Over a year, it morphed from a story about periods into a story about discovering secret letters from disappeared journalist aunts, mother-daughter relationships, coming into activism, and exploring the question about what it means to be a feminist at any age. As someone who has Guatemalan, Hawaiian, German and Filipino heritage, I was also inspired to write a character whose interest in her history and heritage is more of a journey with plenty of ups and downs.
Wow! What interesting layers! So who acquired your book and why are you glad your book found its home at that house?
Irene Vázquez of Levine Querido acquired the book. I first met Irene in 2022 through the Kweli Journal Sing The Truth! mentorship program. During our first call, I mentioned to Irene that I wanted to start working on a new YA project since I had just completed a MG manuscript. Irene asked Ellen, my agent, to send her the manuscript, and Irene made an offer shortly after! I knew instantly that Levine Querido is where I wanted my book to be. I love Irene's editorial vision, the depth with which they understood my initial main character, Mani, but pushed her to grow into the character she is now. Irene helped me see my story in new ways and pinpoint the central question my story is asking. I think Levine Querido is the perfect house for this story. I am honored to join their list of incredible books. It truly feels like the universe worked hard to put me in the right place at the right time and connect me with a group of incredible people-from my agent, editor, mentor and fellow writers- who believe in this story and its need to be out in the world and in the hands of young people.
To be sure, young readers will be delighted too! Well, thanks for stopping by, can't wait to learn more about the journey in the months leading up to your middle-grade's debut in 2024!
Looking forward to it!