LATINO WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS

La Bloga GO TO ACTUAL ARTICLE HERE! Jamie Martinez Wood Facts on File, 2007 This book profiles more than 150 writers and journalists, beginning with Oscar Zeta Acosta and ending with Val Zavala. It has been nominated for the Carter G. Woodson Book Award, which honors the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States. The purpose of this award is to encourage the writing, publishing, and dissemination of outstanding social science books for young readers that treat topics related to ethnic minorities and relations sensitively and accurately. Designed for grades 9 and up, the book is an intriguing collection of interview answers (the author interviewed more than 50 writers for this project), research results, and the author's personal opinions about the writers, their works, and their impact on Latino culture and sociology. Several photographs are sprinkled through the book, including pictures of literary icons such as José Martí, Jovita González, María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, and Fray Angélico Chávez. The writers are poets, playwrights, screenwriters, children's book authors, journalists, editors, publishers, and novelists. The essentials of a good reference work are here: biographical details, lists of published works, additional sources for further information, and a chronological explanation of each writer's role in Latino literature or journalism. The book is a good place to start when digging into the background of a particular writer, and it will lead to other sources and much more information. Some of Wood's comments surprised me. These zingers are not in every profile (short essay, really) but periodically she writes something totally unexpected from a book of this type. For example, she notes that Oscar Acosta's "roller coaster, insatiable hunt for acceptance in life from others and through his writings points to the need to bridge alliances rather than to focus on what separates ethnicities and people." Or, how about this regarding Geraldo Rivera: "Widely misunderstood and often criticized for overt emotions and sensational tendencies, Rivera is a passionate, tenacious journalist who has been honored with more than 150 awards, including 10 Emmys." Wood's other books include titles such as The Wicca Cookbook (Celestial Arts, 2000), The Teen Spell Book: Magick for Young Witches (Celestial Arts, 2001), and The Hispanic Baby Name Book (Berkley, 2001). Now, doesn't that make you curious? GO TO ACTUAL ARTICLE HERE! If you would like a press kit, please send request to maito:Jamie@jamiewood.com