When we contacted
NYRB, their response was that they didn't know of any latino children's books that
should be on their list. That ignorance resulted in a white-washed list. By
their definition, there are no latino classics in this category.
Comments by latino authors:
I don't write
children's books, but some of the best I have come across are now published and
distributed by Lee and Low Books. Many of our top-notch
Latino/a writers have also written children's books. NYRB could probably take
the time to do the research.
I do write children's
books, I have written them for years for my sons and now for my grandchildren,
but only now I am starting to self-publish those stories via Createspace
(Amazon). I don't have the time to wait for the industry to embrace our
diversity. When I tuck my little ones in bed, I want them to be proud of their
Mexican heritage and who they are: beautiful bilingual and bicultural children.
I blog about
multicultural books because I believe it takes Latinos supporting Latinos to
make these books visible; there are other bloggers doing the same. I beta-read for
Latina/o authors because I want to help get them published. We all can do
something. Currently, I have two Young Adult novels completed and am looking
for an agent. I have one manuscript (protagonist is Mexican,17-year-old mother
in prison) with Amazon's Breakthrough Novel competition. They had 10,000
entries, and whittled this to 2,000 (I made this round). On April 14th, Amazon
will again cut 1500 entries. I'm hoping my YA novel makes the next round and that
I can attract an agent.
Maria Victoria [above]
is so right; it's difficult to continue to wait for "the industry"
and the "literary gatekeepers," but it also takes funds to publish
your own novel (approx. $2,000 to 5,000). I may take that route soon.
Lucha Corpi, Independent
Writing and Editing Professional
I've written stories
and poems for children, and a couple have been published in the Houghton
Mifflin Spanish elementary series, for example, and other pubs. I've also
written bilingual picture books--one published by Children's Book Press in
S.F., now an imprint of Lee & Low's in NY, another by Arte Publico Press
Piñata imprint.
When writing for a
classroom series, you're given a list of rules/taboos as to what you can and
cannot do or say, i.e. working in the fields OK, but you can't mention of La Migra
or living conditions for children of migrant families, etc. After a while, I wasn't
willing to write for hire when major publishers dictated what I could write or
not about. I can control when and where I publish to make sure my books outlive
me.
As a translator of stories
for children, however, I had a chance to read English texts of world oral and
literary traditions. I confirmed that in all the stories chosen for certain
grades, there were common threads that made the stories "universal"
and which I call the "human element," in general. We can't deny
ourselves our rightful place in this universal culture. Perhaps in some honest
and sincere way, a few major publishers want stories that can be sewn together
into the larger tapestry of human experience. I don't find anything wrong with
showing all the ways in which people from all cultures are simply human, whose
literatures have many points of contact along those "universal"
lines.
I also believe that as
Chic@nos/Latin@s, we are part of a second universe--Mexico and Latin America,
and of Latin@ culture. Each is unique in its own historical and cultural way,
but socio-politically regarded as disposable once our use to White America is
no longer important, desirable or necessary. Major publishers are not willing
to publish literature that is "in their face," (about La migra,
children of migrant families, etc.) that mirrors all the ways in which they
have failed one of the culturally and linguistically richest and most diverse
groups in the U.S.
Chicano/Latino
publishers have been publishing that literature of resistance and protest,
talking about taboo subjects to the extent they can. They have had to battle
constantly to remain and help our literatures grow. However we may feel
personally about them, we have to remember that theirs hasn't been a road paved
with gold, either. So we need to support their efforts and buy their books directly
from them instead of Amazon, etc. Most of the time, all we do is criticize them
or tear them down, not realizing that when we don't buy their books, we are
also hurting the same writers we're talking about here.
As a student of "classic"
literature and the literary establishment throughout the ages, one last point
about the word "classic" in literature or any of the arts.
Ironically, the classics are those works, which were "popular" when
their creators were alive, though they made no money from their popularity.
They became "classics" when their creators had been dead at least 50
years.
I follow two rules: I
do my job as a writer, and write, regardless of criticism or circumstance, and
I make sure I publish with publishers who may not pay big bucks in royalty, but
who will keep my books in print long after I depart this vale of literary
tears. I buy and read books published by Chican@/Latin@ presses, and in general
support writers and poets this way.
Who knows? One of
these years, one of your poems or a story for children, or one of your books
might become a classic. True that, if what I say is right, you won't be here
any longer to enjoy the renown and the rewards and fruits of your labor.
It's not just the NYRB (with whom I have a
long-standing peeve--since 1973 when it rejected my piece about Chicanos in favor
of an Anglo piece about Chicanos by John Womack).
The real problem, however, is with the American
Library Association and its annual awards for children's literature. Talk about
a dearth! Armando's commentary should be a clarion call for American publishers.
Thanks to Arte Público for the children's books
they've published.
Ideologically, we should not expect écrit oblige [great works] from myopic
American publishers. Just as the history of the lion hunt will always favor the
hunter until lions have their own historians, publishing will always favor the
dominant group until Latinos have their own publishers. Hasta la victoria!
I gather we’re not
getting too agitated about the NYRB list--Rudy has hit the main points in his
response to Sara Kramer. My take is that we consider the context, a bastion of
white privilege revisiting its own past, but largely unaware and painfully
unconcerned with the present reality of millions of Chicanos and Latinos
preparing to make our future. If any of us expect entities like the NYRB to
empower us to advance in our art and yet maintain our integrity, that’s barking
up the wrong ancestral tree.
We as American writers
of a certain perspectiva must move
on, concern ourselves with writing for the present generation, but having in
mind the needs of millions of Latino youth to come. I refer to the critical
need for us as writers to provide literary sustenance for the Latino and Latina
youth who have already become the majority of first to 12th grade populations
in New Mexico (57%), California (51%), Texas (51%), with Arizona (43%), Nevada
(40%), and Colorado (30%) not that far behind. The number of literary works
written each year for Latino youth is dreadfully low, maybe 2 to 3 percent of
children’s books published each year in the U.S.
One cause we can
address directly: Latina and Latino writers, established and aspiring, should
direct some of their time and talents to writing for young people. My focus as
a newcomer to writing for young people is on middle and high school youth
because I can craft stories for them of my own recollections. Others might have
the insight and mental dexterity to fashion those delightful little tales that
can help form the imaginations and identity of toddlers and early school
children.
Which causes me to
reflect on an important insight that I read in one of the letters to the editor
that appeared on 3/23/14, after the NYRB published its 100 best list. The
correspondent, who hailed from the Bronx, wrote that a “well-written book
…should represent humanity, and readers should be able to find something of
themselves in it – no matter the protagonists’ background or color.” A fine
point, one that exemplifies the finest literary works anywhere.
However, this notion
taken to its logical extreme suggests that all books could be about white Anglo
Saxon men, and that would be okay as long as we others could find “something”
of ourselves in the text. That’s exactly the attitude that led to the present
“lack of diversity,” or to be explicit, the racism by omission in children’s
literature.
What I’ve come to
realize is that writing for children today is a political act. Taking the word,
political, to its ancient Greek root, polis, which stood for the state, the
confluence of people who together make up a society. It follows from the
converse reality that teachers, librarians, scholars, and parents face: the
absolute dearth of books written for and about Latino boys and girls in the
U.S. Thus, limiting the presence of Latino and Latina children in books for
school kids is a political act, driven by generations of discrimination,
oppression and racism.
Final point: while we
need more books for Latino youth, we need to set and uphold certain literary
standards. Is anyone taking on the task of drafting a set of guidelines
appropriate to writing aimed at Latino children, a gathering of Latino writers,
educators and librarians with an understanding of the pedagogical, emotional
and intellectual/creative needs for these ages? Such a document could be a
useful guideline for all of us, even eye-opening for the gatekeepers over at
the NYRB.
More salient comments,
Lucha. To pick up on one of the things you said, about writing for posterity.
When you consider, for example, that in Texas, my home state (no apologies),
the school population in 2050 if not earlier will reach 9 million and 6 of
those millions will be Latino, we have to think for the future: what we write
today will impact millions of kids, and not just Chicanitos but any child from
the standpoint of opening up a vision of the world that's multicultural and
multicolorful. Adelante!
(Rendón is also the author of the young adult novel, Noldo and his
magical scooter at the Battle of the Alamo, which was just named a finalist for
an International Latino Book Award.)
Barbara Renaud Gonzalez informed us about
her book, The boy made of lightning,
the first interactive book on the life of Voting Rights pioneer Willie
Velasquez, independently published by AALAS, 9/2013. Original narrative, art,
music, sounds and written in Tex-Mex, with pop-ups and translation; it was
nominated for a Tomas Rivera Prize.
Acevedo
strikes again
Good
Money Gone, a novel co-authored by Mario Acevedo, is a
finalist in the International Book Awards. Also, Mario’s essay, "Love
Between the Species", has just been published in Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (L.
Lamson, edit.), a rare and revealing look at the writing secrets of
speculative genre masters.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG