Latino Writers Conference for Comadres and Compadres

The 2nd Annual Comadres and Compadres Latino Writers Conference, which is taking place in Brooklyn, New York on October 5, 2013, provides Latino writers access to published Latino authors as well as agents and editors who have a proven track record of publishing Latino books. Over 50 writers traveled from as far as California, Florida, and Mexico to attend.

“For me, the most difficult part is to find books written by Latino authors. Most of the time, I have to go and look for them — either online, or in magazines. Many times I look for articles written by Latino authors and then we reach out to those authors,” said Johanna Castillo, Vice President and Senior Editor of Atria Books.

Atria Books was launched in April 2002 by publisher Judith Curr as a new hardcover and paperback imprint within Simon & Schuster, Inc. The name Atria (the plural of atrium — a central living space open to the air and sky) reflects their goals as publishers: to create an environment that is always open to new ideas and where authors and their books can flourish. Our book, Count On Me: Talest of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships (both the English and Spanish versions), is published by Atria.

“What I’ve been doing lately is that I call agents — and there are very few Latino agents — and I ask ‘Are you representing Latino writers?’ That is one struggle: more Latino writers need to be represented. I think there are only about five Latino writer agents in the country. A way to overcome is that is to come here [to a Latino writers conference] for example, so you can see who works the Latino books. That’s why I think this conference is great!” adds Castillo.

Johanna Castillo’s areas of interest: Quality Commercial Fiction: Historical, Women, Thrillers, Literary. Inspirational Self-help, Narrative Nonfiction, Foreign Translations and Books for our International, Latino, and Spanish-language lines
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