Day-Long Event to Offer Experts, Insight into Publishing Industry Opportunities
Please join Las Comadres Para Las
Americas, the national Latina organization, as we present a day-long conference
on October 6 for Latino writers seeking more access into the publishing
industry!
Comadres and Compadres
Writers Conference will be held at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, Brooklyn. Joining La Comadres as collaborators
are the National Black Writers Conference, the Center for Black Literature, the
Foreign Language Department and the Latino American Association, Full Circle
Literary, Marcela Landres, and Scholastic, with support from the Association of
American Publishers.
Through the workshops, panels and other sessions,
writers will gain an insider’s perspective into how to best navigate the
challenges and opportunities of the industry.
A highlight of the day will be a full schedule of
one-on-one meetings for writers with agents and editors. Participants currently include Johanna
Castillo, Vice President & Senior Editor/Atria, Simon & Schuster: Jaime
de Pablos, Director/Vintage Español, Knopf Doubleday Group; Adriana Dominguez,
Agent/Full Circle Literary; Mercedes Fernandez, Assistant Editor/Dafina Books,
Kensington Publishing; Sulay Hernandez, Editor/Other Press; Cheryl Klein,
Executive Editor/Arthur A. Levine Books; Selina L. McLemore, Senior
Editor/Grand Central Publishing; Christina Morgan, Editor/Harcourt Houghton
Mifflin; Lukas Ortiz, Managing Director/Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency,
Inc.; Diane Stockwell,
Founder/Globo Libros Literary Management; and Stacy Whitman, Founder and
Editorial Director/Tu Books.
Scheduled panels will examine magazines and
literary journals, genres, poetry, children’s/young adult writing, fiction,
non-fiction, publicity and self-publishing. There will also be a session for authors to pitch their work
and get instant feedback as well as an agents/editors panel.
Keynote speaker is author and television
personality Sonia Manzano. Having
originated the role of “Maria” on Sesame Street, Manzano wrote two
children’s books, No Dogs Allowed (Simon and Schuster, 2004) and A
Box Full of Kittens (Simon and Schuster, 2007), and will have her first YA
novel, The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, published by Scholastic
in Fall 2012.
Registration for writers and vendors
is now open for the conference.
Las Comadres is a nationwide grassroots-based group of Latinas launched informally in 2000 in Austin, TX. The national networks, created in 2003, have grown to over 100 US cities. Its 15,000 strong membership keeps Latinas connected via email networks, teleconferences, and monthly potluck events in individual cities. In conjunction with the Association of American Publishers, it sponsors a national book club promoting the work of Latino authors and encouraging literacy. The National Latino Book Club is currently celebrating its fourth year.