Five years ago there was an explosion of "chica lit;" novels about modern Latina women written by Latina authors. More comedic in tone than their predecessors and set in big cities like L.A., Boston, New York and Denver, the heroines of these books gave voice to Latina women who struggle to untangle themselves from their cultural roots and family to pursue their dreams. Julia Amante is one of those authors who got her start in "chica lit" and has now transitioned to "mujer lit."
She talks about her new novel that will be released Friday, September 25, 2009, Evenings at the Argentine Club, her name change and the challenge of growing as a writer.
Anaheim Literature Examiner: What inspired the idea for Evenings at the Argentine Club and how long did it take to go from manuscript to published novel?
Julia Amante: Evenings at the Argentine Club sort of kept morphing into a larger and deeper story with each rewrite. It originally centered around character, Victoria's weight issues, but as you know a book is a team effort and with agent and editorial input and my own soul searching I realized that the book was really about the dreams of immigrants when they arrive in America and how they are affected as years seem to slip by and reality forces people to accept the difficulty of being successful. Evenings at the Argentine Club took about a year and half to write.
Read A New Name and a New Book: The Story of Julia Amante
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1 comment:
What a fun article. I read her two books as Lara Ríos and can't wait to read this one.
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