Guest Blogger: Author and Editor Michelle Herrera Mulligan

Michelle Herrera Mulligan is the editor of, and a contributor to Juicy Mangos: Erotica Collection (Atria Books, 2007), the first-ever collection of Latina erotica in English, which Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos called “not only a tantalizing read, but a deeply rewarding one as well.” In 2004, she co-edited Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting (HarperCollins/Rayo, 2004), an anthology of essays on the contemporary American Latina experience. She received an American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Ruth Bennett Outstanding Contributions to Hispanic Studies Award in spring of 2006. Michelle has worked as an author and journalist in New York City for twelve years. She has contributed to Time, Woman’s Day, Latina, Teen People, and Publisher's Weekly, among many others.

Why It’s Worth It to Edit (and Contribute to) an Anthology

by Michelle Herrera Mulligan

You’ve all seen them. They drift into your inboxes with deletable subject lines like “FW:FW:Re:Please forward: New anthology editor seeks stories about sisterhood, motherhood, growing up in Miami, Detroit, Peoria...,” you get the idea. If you actually click on the message, you might make it to the part where it says compensation consists of a “small stipend upon selection.” That is, if you haven’t deleted it by then. And you probably have. I certainly did. Plenty of times. That is, until I thought of an anthology of my own.

My friend Robyn and I didn’t plan on doing an anthology, or even a book together. We mostly hung out in offices and laughed hysterically at all the weird things our mothers had in common, like favoring makeup for fifth graders, and loving telenovelas way too much. But after a while, we realized we had another important thing in common: we weren’t seeing professional women like ourselves (educated, sophisticated Latinas navigating multiple realities) on T.V., or in any of the novels or essays we were reading at the time. And we wanted to do something about it. So we decided to pose a couple of emailed questions of our own: “What has being Latina meant for you?” “What has it meant to your identity at different stages of your life?” We didn’t just send the questions to anybody. We asked the best writers and most outrageous thinkers of all of the talented women we knew. And what we got back overwhelmed us.

For about two years after we got a book deal, our lives became consumed by edits, negotiations (though the individual contributor contracts started out identical, many required tweaking and much discussion), and long phone therapy sessions, pronounced by panic about what family members, former lovers, and friends would say once it all hit the shelves. The work was consuming and costly (I could have made more money writing a long magazine feature at the time). Robyn and I became infamous editors in the process; we sent the essays back for revision after revision (and put ourselves through the same). But what we ended up with in the end was worth it: a tight-knit group of friends and colleagues, a tour around the country (that we paid for ourselves), where we met young women touched by our stories, conversations started about Latina identity in the press, and most importantly, the stories themselves, gathered in a volume called Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting (HarperCollins/Rayo, 2004), which is still being used in college curriculums around the country.

At the end of that process, I was happy and done. I was going solo. I’d never do it again. And yet, one day I got a call, just like that classic email, asking if I would be interested in contributing to someone else’s anthology. Only I didn’t politely decline out of turn. I took a minute to listen, and that moment proved to be transformational.

The job at first seemed absurd (“Me, an editor of erotica? Are you kidding?”). I had to edit in English and Spanish, and make writers that were more experienced than me sound amazing and polished as they wrote a heavily sexual, literary, novella. And I also had to write one of those novellas myself (“I know, what?!”) “There goes another year (or two), there goes my novel,” I thought. But my capacity as a writer was challenged, yet again, expanded beyond my expectations—as was the final product: Juicy Mangos:Erotica Collection (Atria Books, 2007). As with Border-Line, the experience sparked friendships that I treasure to this day.

You may hear that anthologies don’t sell, will suck your time, and are going the way of the hardcover. What you won’t hear is this: if you get a chance to work on one that features a topic you’re passionate about, jump at the chance. You’ll never take a class that will teach you more.

Michelle Herrera Mulligan, Elisha Miranda, and Sofia Quintero, will be reading from their stories from Juicy Mangos on Thursday, October 22 at the East Harlem Café, 1651 Lexington Avenue, 7-9 p.m.

The Other Shoe Drops

Upon my return to the U.S. and a mere two days after watching President Obama’s declaration that we are in the midst of “a full blown crisis,” I have the unfortunate task of having to report on not one, but TWO major ways in which this crisis has dealt direct blows to the Latino publishing industry.

Many of you probably know about the first: CRÍTICAS, the magazine published by Library Journal that for the past eight years had been THE source for news on the Spanish language publishing industry in the U.S., and the biggest provider of reviews of Spanish language titles available in this market, was shut down by its parent company, Reed Business Information. On a letter to online subscribers, former Editor Aída Bardales cites “decreased ad support” as the reason behind the decision made by the company, and states that “plans are underway to continue coverage of the U.S. Spanish-language book market through sister publications Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.” It is not yet clear what form that coverage will take, but I will of course keep you posted. (To read Bardales’ complete letter, click here.) Adriana López, the magazine’s founder turned guest blogger, posted a nostalgic entry entitled “The Names and Faces Behind Críticas” that gives credit to those who have contributed their talents to the magazine over the years, and made me, for one, long for the days when the Latino industry felt like a budding enterprise full of promise, rather than another helpless victim of the current economic climate.

Which brings me to my second bit of news, as this one too, makes me long for better days, specifically, a time eight years ago, when HarperCollins Publishers’ former CEO Jane Friedman saw the potential of the budding Latino market and launched a new imprint called RAYO. Since then, Rayo’s titles have consistently ranked among the top-selling Spanish language titles sold in the U.S., and won numerous awards. But achievements no longer guarantee employment, and so, on Tuesday, February 10th, I read this article stating that Rene Alegria, Rayo’s Publisher has been let go, along with his fabulous editor, Cecilia Molinari, part of a wave of layoffs by HarperCollins that resulted in the complete dissolution of Collins, their non-fiction imprint, among other disasters. A note at the bottom of the article seems to suggest that Harper plans to continue publishing Rayo titles, although it does not explain exactly how that will be accomplished. Again, I will keep you posted.

A quick look at my bio will make it clear that both of these events weigh heavily on me personally, as I am friends with everyone formerly employed by these two businesses. And it is both in the spirit of friendship, and of “giving credit where credit is due,” that I remind readers that the folks affected by these news are trailblazers whose tremendous dedication and hard work have contributed to making this portion of the business the essential part of the general book market it has become, and that it should continue to be. It is with great sadness that I report on these developments, and that I appeal to you, readers, and ask that you support this industry in any way you can: by subscribing and supporting this blog, by purchasing books by Latino authors, attending Latino authors’ readings, writing letters to decision makers, and any other way you can think of. The sense of urgency I felt when I launched this blog has now reached unforeseen proportions. We should all be stunned, saddened, and outraged by these news, but most of all, we should take action. Do you part, whatever that is. And hold on to your hats, we’re in for a bumpy ride…

An Update and Some Shameless Promotion

I am out of the country until the first week of February, when I will resume posting. In the meantime, I want to let you know that I continue to work on future posts that I hope will be of interest to you, and that I am still open to ideas and suggestions, so keep those coming, and keep visiting and subscribing!

I can´t resist taking advantage of this forum to share some news as well: On January 1st of this year, Rayo published the bilingual Pelé, King of Soccer/ Pelé, El rey del fútbol, by award-winning author, Monica Brown. I am letting you know about it not because I edited the book, as many of you already know, but because I really believe that it is excellent, and worth knowing about. And I am not alone: Pelé has already received many positive reviews, two of them starred. Since this blog is about promoting and supporting the work of excellent Latino authors and illustrators, I wanted to share the excellent work that Monica Brown and Rudy Gutiérrez did on this book and encourage you to check it out. You can find a link to both the author and illustrator´s websites on this page. Monica´s page has links to the reviews and to an interview I did with her for Críticas magazine. Personally, I think that this book represents the first opportunity to help make this the year that we celebrate Latino children´s literature! Buy It Here