The
Latina Book Club welcomes author René
Colato Laínez and chats with him about his new book and illegal aliens.
Q: Congratulations on your new book, MAMÁ THE
ALIEN/ MAMÁ LA EXTRATERRESTE.
We love how your books are bilingual. Do you write the Spanish
version first or the English?
René Colato
Laínez: Thank you! I am so happy that MAMÁ THE
ALIEN/ MAMÁ LA EXTRATERRESTE is ready to fly and visit homes, classrooms and
libraries. When I am writing a story for the first time, I write it in English
or Spanish. When it is time to submit the manuscript for publication, my agent
always submit an English manuscript. I work on that manuscript with my editor
until it is ready to print. It is until then, when I translate the manuscript
from English to Spanish.
Q: Thanks to you and many other diverse authors,
our children are finally seeing books with heroes that look like them. When
you were growing up, did it bother you that the books you were reading had no
Latino characters? Did you then fill your writing with them?
RCL: I grew up in El Salvador speaking Spanish,
having fun with my friends and relatives and celebrating all the national holidays.
It was until I arrived to the United States and I began to read books to my
students when I noticed that there were not characters that look like us in
those books. So I decided to write my students’ stories. I illustrated them
with the students’ photographs or drawings. Then, they took their books homes.
They were so happy to be in those books.
I wanted my students to see themselves in books and to know that their
stories are important. This challenged me to start to write and submit my own
stories for publication.
Q: We know your uncle author Jorge Buenaventura
Laínez was your inspiration. What other authors –Latino and non Latino--
do you enjoy?
RCL: As a child I enjoyed reading the Spanish
translation of Charlotte’s Web by E.B White and the Spanish classics Don
Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and Marianela by Benito Pérez Galdós.
The first book that I was able to read in English was Charlotte’s Web because I
knew the story by heart in Spanish. Knowing the story in Spanish helped me to
understand what I was reading in English. I like to read Isabel Allende,
Gabriel García Márquez, Laurie Halse Anderson and Kate DiCamillo. I have so many favorite authors that it is so hard to
only name a few.
Written by Rene Colato LainezIllustrated by Laura LacamaraLee & Low Books |
Q: The Library of Congress just recently banned
the works “illegal” and “alien” from their postings and all libraries.
What do you think -- Is this one small step for libraries, one giant step for
immigrants?
RCL: I am happy that the Library of Congress wants
to change “illegal alien” to “undocumented immigrant.” Many children just like
myself did not have any other option that to cross a border to come to the
United States. I could not understand the illegal aspect of my journey. Was it
illegal to escape from a war and to look for better opportunities in another
country? I wrote an article about this topic. You can read it here.
I think
this is a big step for both libraries and immigrants. I hope that other
institutions do the same because we are all children of Planet Earth.
Q: Your children’s books are amazing. Do
you ever think about writing a longer children’s novel? What are you
working on now?
RCL: I just actually finished writing my first
middle grade novel that looks at the experience of war through the eyes of two
children, based on my own experience growing up in the middle of the Salvadoran
Civil War. Also, I have a forthcoming bilingual picture book about the
childhood of Salvadoran priest and human rights activist, Archbishop Oscar
Arnulfo Romero. In Telegrams to Heaven/
Telegramas al cielo readers will discover the dream of little Oscar to
become a priest. (Luna’s Press, Fall 2016)
Q: Before we go, we have to ask…. What do aliens
eat for breakfast?
RCL: Maybe they drink a lot of milk for breakfast
if they are traveling in the Milky Way.###
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: René Colato Laínez was born in El Salvador. He is an award-winning
author who holds an MFA in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of
Fine Arts. Críticas has called René's characters "immigrant heroes."
He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
Learn more about him and his books at http://renecolatolainez.com/
READ
LATINO!