Marlene Perez's Newest Book Deal

Look for Marlene Perez's teen novel The Comeback, scheduled tentatively for Spring 2009 publication. The novel is an amalgam of teen popularity-themed novels with a twist---a popular girl is given the boot by the most exclusive clique at school and concocts a plan to win back her place in the popular circle. Perez is the author of another teen opus Unexpected Development published by Roaring Brook Press.

Isabel Allende's Antonio Banderas Fantasies

In an interview with Greensboro News and Record journalist, Peruvian-born, Chilean-national and The House of Spirits author Isabel Allende elaborated to journalist Tina Firesheets (firesheets...this story has got passion written all over it) about her previously confessed fantasies of Spaniard star Antonio Banderas. "The dream was after meeting him. Of course I have not told him about my erotic fantasies with him. I am a married old lady, and he is young enough to be my son. Why would he want to know such a thing?"

Carmen Rodrigues's Upcoming Novel

Carmen Rodrigues is joining Gaby Triana, Gary Soto, and a host of other Hispanic writers who are writing for a teen audience. The West Palm Beach resident's non-descriptively titled book Not Anything centers around Susie Shannon, a Miami teen who's in the middle of her identity crisis and has to tutor Danny Diaz, a school hottie, and in the process learns more about herself than she imagined.

The book is set to be released in February 2008, six months before her second teen novel A Little Something is scheduled to go on sale.

Miami Book Fair to Feature Major Latino Authors

The Miami Book Fair, which is scheduled to take place from November 4-11 while the street version of the fair will run from November 9, 2007.

A sample list of Hispanic authors who'll be making appearances and signing books: Teresa Rodríguez (The Daughters of Juarez), Raul Ortega (Desde la isla), Jorge Ramos (El regalo del tiempo), Gaby Triana (Backstage Pass), Andrea O'Reilly (Cuba: Idea of a Nation Displaced), Juan José Benítez (Caballo 8) and many others.

Visit Miami Book Fair for additional information and a more comprehensive list of Latino authors.

[Photo Credit: Teresa Rodriguez (Getty Images)]

Ernestina Sodi to Release English Version of Explosive Autobiography

Ernestina Sodi, Thalia's sister and the mother of the twenty-something Mexican actress Camila Sodi will soon release an English version of her 2006 autobiography Lìberanos del Mal. Deliver Us from Evil will recreate Sodi's headline-creating kidnapping and brutal rape. Ernestina has, in the past, gotten a lot of heat for her candidness, particularly from family member Laura Zapata who publicly denounced Ernestina's choice to recount being raped in the Spanish-language version of the book.

Photo Credit: Grosby Group

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Book Selected for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club

Nobel Laureate and current Mexican resident Gabriel Garcìa Marquez's 1985 classic novel Love in the Time of Cholera was selected by Oprah Winfrey's bookclub. This is of course, very timely, as the book's film version will be released in November. This marks the second time that the fantasy novelist's book has gotten this honor. In 2004, Ms. O hand-picked Gabriel Garcìa Marquez's most celebrated novel One Hundred Years of Solitude as a selection.

Mary Acosta's Latina Horror Novel

What's a Latina to do when her writing career is going amuck and when her wisecracks aren't enough anymore to smooth out her days? She resorts to the party life, of course. Such is the life of Milagro de los Santos (her name no coincidence we can be assured), the protagonist of Mary Acosta's upcoming book Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. Senorita de los Santos goes to a cocktail party and begins to show symptoms of a vampire-in-the-making after beign kissed and bitten! Acosta's book is set to be released by Pocket Boosk in January.

Anjanette Delgado to Release Book!

Anjanette Delgado, a television producer who has worked with HBO Latin America, Telemundo, CNN, NBC, and Telemundo will be releasing her first novel The Heartbreak Pill (Atria Books). The book's plot centers on Erika Luna, who like Delgado, is a Miami resident. Erika is quite the mujer. After receiving the boot from her husband, the heart-shattered Erika decides to invent a pill that will rid the world of heartbreak.

Delgado has already proven herself as a quite capable television producer, creating social yarns for everything from United Nations productions to spanish television specials. Her entry into fantasy fiction is highly anticipated.

Thalia's New Book Released

You've seen her prance on the stage, as she sensuously sings the lyrics to the song "Morena". And you wanted to be like her as you watched her as Rosalinda, as Maria del Barrio. And when she had her million-dollar wedding to the record label mogul Tommy Mottola, how you wished you had a fairy tale union like that, complete with the designer princess gown and gorgeous veil. Well, now you can. Well, somewhat. In Thalia Sodi's latest book Belleza, she discusses her beauty, style and career secrets. Depending on the book's success, perhaps Chronicle Books will also release a parenting book from new mother Thalia. We already have a title for it...how about Mamita!

Review: Rosa's New Mexican Table by Roberto Santiba

Roberto Santibanez was a chef for decades. Martha Stewart's Living, Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazine readers have all tried his recipes. It only seemed natural for him to release his own book. There's been many Mexican cookbooks, but never one this down-to-earth and practical. In fact, we don't know what makes our mouths water more, the Shrimp and Vegetable Skewers or the Rack of Lamb with Pistachio Pipian.

Marlowe's Latin American Travel Books

Avalon Publishing released a slew of "handbooks" (the Moon Series) about hot spots in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua. In the series there is even Moon Cuba, by award winning travel writer Christopher P. Baker. For many who may want to travel to Cuba but are afraid of restrictions, Baker's book details how you can travel there legally. The book is full of ideas and trip tips on how to make your own glorious Habana nights, complete with a lover's tend-day beach tour guide and a cyclist guide.

Nicaragua, which is often overlooked as a touristic spot, gets its rightful due from Randall Wood and Joshua Berman who, have actually lived and breated Nicaraguan air.

Avalon recruited Dominicana-Americana Ana Chavier Caamaño to write about Santo Domingo and other DR highlights like Sosua, Las Galeras and Taino splendor.

Very little is known about Honduras. But the guide by Chris Humphrey is going to change that. It highlights Honduras's Mayan remains as well as diving and hiking sites.

Latina Teen Fiction Writer

Award-winning writer Caridad Ferrer's book It's Not About the Accent is set to be released on August 21st. Ferrer's publisher Pocket books is likening the book to Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's book The Dirty Girls Social Club. But the fact of the matter is, the talented Chica is in class by herself. The Jacksonville, FL-residing Ferrer is known for her humor and wit---much centered on her heritage as a Manhattan-born, first generation Cuban-American. Her Adios to My Old Life book (also published by Pocket Books) nagged an award at the 2007 edition of Romance Writers of America's RITA award.

Latinos and their Virgen Guadalupes

HBJ came across this little treasure entitled The Church in the Barrio: Mexican American Ethno-Catholicism in Houston (University of North Carolina Press). Scholar Roberto Trevino restricts his study to Hispanic mainstay state Texas, but his observations and his readings of Mexican Catholics might have been about the Dominican community in Nueva Yo or Cubans in Miami's Little Havana---so on point are they. Trevino, whose most recent work is a collaboration with Richard Francaviglia (Catholicism in the American West, Texas A&M University Press), is a history professor and the co-head of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas. The Church in the Barrio isn't one of those books with the intriguing title, and little substance, but rather an in-depth, cross-generational, cross-historical little gem, well-cemented with stunning illustrations and notes that capture Catholicism in all its santa glory.

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.