THE LATINA BOOK CLUB

Yolanda is the author of PORRIDGE & CUCU: MY CHILDHOOD and THE HONEYEATER.  She will be featured on April 3rd on Writers Wednesdays.  Yolanda was also generous to offer a FREE E-Book to all Latina Book Club readers on March 11 and March 16 only.  See link at end. Please join me in welcoming Yolanda to The Latina Book Club. Q.  Tell us about your new book, PORRIDGE & CUCU: MY CHILDHOOD. What is it about? PORRIDGE & CUCU is the story of a young girl growing up with her family—first in Panama, then in New York. The novel chronicles the life of Yamila as a child—during carnival, in a Catholic girls' school, playing with friends, navigating a bicultural and bilingual existence, eating "porridge and cucu" (foods she ate as a child). Also, a few ghost stories as told by her grandfather. Q.  Is this story autobiographical? Tell us about your background. Where is your family from? where did you grow up? siblings? children? PORRIDGE & CUCU was act

The Latina Book Club's mission is to promote Latina / Latino authors, which we do through book reviews, author interviews, publicity announcements, book of the month selections, etc.  A new feature we are adding is "Writers Wednesdays."  The first Wednesday of each month we will feature a Latina / Latino writer talking about .....writing.   We welcome published and pre-published writers.  The Latina Book Club thanks Ellie Parker for being our first guest. Eleanor Parker Sapia If you’re like me, questions pop into your head before you begin reading a new book. I wonder what the author is like, how their story came to be and who the characters in their story are based on. My novel-length manuscript, A DECENT WOMAN, began as a five-page tribute to my Puerto Rican grandmother on her 90th birthday. I was living in Belgium at the time, so the tribute was my gift to Meme.When I called my grandmother, she said, “You listened well, nena.” I could see her big grin in my m

“My life has been very crazy and difficult… Difficult but happy.” – Jenni Riverdale Avenue Books released February 26, 2013 Like many people, I too discovered Jenni Rivera too late. It wasn’t until her plane crashed that I first heard of "La Diva de la Banda". Another Latina Super Star who’s life had been cut short.  Comparisons to Selena cannot be helped – both Mexican American, both Super Stars, both pioneers in music, both lost too soon. However, Jenni was older and more ...scandalous. WE LOVE JENNI is an unauthorized biography of the late star by New York Times' bestselling author Marc Shapiro and Charlie Vasquez.  Shapiro is known for his bestselling biographies of J.K. Rowling and Justin Bieber.  Vasquez is a well-known journalist. The authors relied heavily on third-party accounts about Jenni, specifically quotes from Elijah Wald, who knew her personally and who wrote the tell-all book of narcocorrida, the new genre of music about "drugs, guns