Consuelo Maria Alcala Born in San Diego in 1951, she worked with young children as a bilingual preschool teacher for over ten years. In 1991, when she published her first book of songs entitled, Primavera, Primavera, Nuevas Canciones y Rimas para Pequeños, she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. While she battled the disease [...]
“Poet and producer, actor and comedian, award-winning TV writer, denizen of the Latin quarter, Hollywood Hills and the Great White Way. Rick Najera is the embodiment of diversity.” ~ Writers Guild of America Rick L. Najera is an award-winning actor-writer-director-producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. Honored twice by Hispanic Business Magazine as [...]
Herman Sillas is a native of Los Angeles, and when he was 12, his mother enrolled him in a neighborhood Saturday morning painting class. Three years later his art instructor referred Sillas to the renown Otis Art Institute. Two years later he was awarded a scholarship there. After graduating from high school, he put his [...]
Melanie R. Martel is a contemporary Latina author of young-adult fiction from Sacramento, CA. She is a strong advocate of diversity and tolerance as the ultimate adaptation. Her work exemplifies and glorifies this concept and exhibits a passion for the rich cultural, religious and racial tapestry of her world. At the same time, she strives [...]
Virginia Kamhi was born and raised in Southern California. The youngest of three sisters, she roamed the foothills surrounding her house, built forts, rode eucalyptus stick horses, and roller-skated on the badminton court her father had built. Once, when skating too fast, she skated right off the court and down the hill into a cactus [...]
Author Isabel Delia Gonzalez had a business career with a Fortune 500 company spanning over twenty-years. During this tenure her hallmark was the ability to frame critical issues into messages that resonate with and move audiences to action. The importance of corporate citizenship Gonzalez involved in non-profit Board service, concentrating on the global community in [...]
Josefina López is best known for authoring the play and co-authoring the film Real Women Have Curves, a coming-of-age story about Ana, a first-generation Chicana torn between pursuing her college ambitions, a personal goal, and securing employment which is a family expectation. Along the way, Ana confronts a host of cultural assumptions about beauty, marriage [...]
Gilberto Cetina learned the secrets of cooking from his mother in a timber town in the Tizimín province of the state of Yucatán. A trained engineer, he moved with his family to the United States in 1986 where he was finally able to dedicate himself to the culinary arts. He worked in various restaurants and [...]
A Successful Team Edward James Olmos Kirk Whisler The Directory is published by Latino Literacy Now, a 501c3 nonprofit that has produced 55 Latino Book & Family Festivals since 1997, when it was co-founded by actor Edward James Olmos and Kirk Whisler. Latino Literacy Now also operates the Int’l Latino Book [...]
Edna Iturralde is considered one of the most important and prolific figures of Latin American literature for children and young people. She has published more than 40 books throughout the Americas and in Europe, many of which have become best sellers in various countries. Edna is the pioneer in Ecuador of ethno-historical literature for children [...]
