Esmeralda Santiago and the Conquistadora

Her book When I Was Puerto Rican was declared a classic even before it hit galley stage. Now Esmeralda Santiago is ready to conquer other worlds...With the popularity of the telenovela Zorro and its ranking among Hispanic viewers on the television network Telemundo, it's no wonder at all why Santiago's next literary move is set in the century next to last. The backdrop of Conquistadora is none other than 1800s Puerto Rico with a Scarlett O'Hara-like heroine at its crux. Barely one year into her own self-managed gig since leaving the Aaron Priest Literary Agency in the Summer of 2006 in a daring jump-ship, Molly Friedrich is already striking gold with Ms. Santiago's latest literary opus. Conquistadora will be published by Knopf.

Fidel Castro Autobiography

Written in collaboration with Ignacio Ramonet, the editor of the French publication Le Monde Diplomatique Castro's autobiography---an English hardcover version of Debate's Spanish edition of Fidel Castro: Biografia a dos voces---promises to delivery the goods on Castro's life, told from his own words (hence the A Spoken Autobiography subtitle).

Whereas Nation Books tried to give a compelling picture of the Cuban leader in The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro---released earlier this year, Scribner's English version of Castro's life tries to set itself apart by presenting the same previously unpublished photographs in the Spanish version, highlighting Castro over the years. There are the soft moments, as with his friendship with revolutionary Che Guevara, the triumphant moments (the Fulgencio Batista victory) as well as better-known pages in history as the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the island nation leader's relationships with U.S. presidents.

Ramonet who's written The Geopolitics of Chaos and the French language media critique Propagandes Silencieuses: Masses, television, cinema is best known for his war encyclopedia Wars of the 21st Century and as also the founder of Media Watch Global, a media monitoring project. Scribner originally planned to release the book in early September, but has moved the book for October release.

Thalia Sodi, author

Mexican pop star Thalia Sodi is known for a couple of things. Firstly, as the teeny-boppy actress in Quinceanera with Lucero. And of course, in the succeeding telenovelas that followed like Maria del Mar, Maria Mercedes, Maria del Barrio, Rosalinda...Get our drift?

Now if you would please, add her to the list of Latina authors. According to our sources, Thalia: !Belleza!: Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness (Chronicle Books), is saturated with beauty and lifestyle tips for the contemporary Latina with self-help advice kept to a minimum.

Ms. Thalia made a special appearance earlier this month at Book Expo America (BEA) in NY to promote the book. Is it going to be one of those self-love fest or an actual practical book? Thalia: !Belleza! is set to be released in September. We shall then know the answer to that pregunta.

News: Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 25 Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is most known for his opus One Hundred Years of Solitude. In late May, he ended his civil war-imposed exile by visiting his hometown of Aracataca, Columbia. Associated Press reporter Darcy Crowe reported on the mass adulation that greeted Garcia Marquez as he and his wife Mercedes Barcha visited the town many believe to be the inspiration for Maconda, the fictional town in his most impressive work. No doubt to his fans chagrin, the visit was just that. Garcia Marquez makes his home in Mexico.

Quinceanera Books Galore

It's nearly fifteen years since the first Quinceanera book was written by Mary Lankford (Millbrook Press). Now the celebration of a teen's coming of age is the subject of several upcoming and newly-release books this year. The paperback version of Malin Alegria's 2006 book Estrella's Quinceañera was released by Simon Pulse last month. Adriana Lopez's story collection Fifteen Candles (Rayo) will be coming out later on this month. Even literary doña Julia Alvarez is releasing a book---to be put out by Viking in August---entitled Once Upon a Quinceañera.

Review: Rosie Molinary's Hijas Americanas: Former Latina Educator Tackles Body Image Issues in New Book

Big behind, small behind, caramel-complexioned, light-complexioned, mole, no mole; raven-haired, blond-haired. Like her other sisters, the Latina woman cannot stop comparing herself to others. On one side, there is the hot, oversexed Latina that could be from Argentina, Paraguay, Cuba or Venezuela, but who everyone seems to put in the basket. On the other hand, there's the plump, curve-rich Latina popularized by America Ferrera, Michele Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez of late...she's becoming more and more mainstream these days. What's a Latina to do? Lock herself up in her cuarto and let herself boil into the highest degrees of self-hatred?

Rosie Molinary addresses practically all those things in her new book Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina. Molinary, who is of Puerto Rican descent and a contributor to the book Waking Up American, picked the brains of hundreds of Latinas via face-to-face interviews as well as web interviews (welcome to the empirical method of the 2000s). The responses she received give a rather insightful look at the mechanics of LI (Latina Identity).

Above Left: Author Rosie Molinary, a hijita Americana

Hispanic Book Journal

Hispanic Book Journal would like to extend mucho carino to everyone in the Hispanic world publishing business. Our mission is as follows: to become the place to go to for news about Hispanic authors, books and literary events. If there's anything happening in the community, we want to be the first to blog-deliver it to you.