Most of my titles are by people of that heritage, and most of them are by poc.
Even the swashbuckler, The Golden Hawk that overlapped with Golden Age of Piracy, is by an African American.
Edie Danticatt is Haitian and of color. Madison has been made an honorary Haitian of color by Haitians, as Ned Sublette has been made an honorary member of the Matanzas rumberos in Cuba, and the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans. If one wanted to do a non-fiction Haitian reading, there's the marvelous Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois -- of Haitian ancestry. His history of the Haitian Revolution, A Colony of Citizens won the Frederick Douglas Award for history.
Many of the islands hardly have or ever had a publishing industry, like the DR. There aren't many historical novels written about their island then, by illiterate slaves in the 19th century -- part of the tragedy of the Caribbean. Haiti had the most writing because of its connection with France, and that group of people in the middle, the mulattos and then the other, antagonist group (as it was perceived) the free blacks. It's all very complicated. Not just complex, but complicated.
Cuba publishes very few 'entertainment' books. It does a lot of historical romance/fiction on television though.
U.S. publishers are fairly hostile to Spanish language works out of the Caribbean. Nor do they like paying for translation. Editors have flat out told me, re Puerto Rico, for instance, "Puerto Ricans don't read. And nobody else cares."
You can see why Junot Díaz Oscar Wao is SUCH a big deal. We were at the DR's annual Feria del Libros last year when he was the guest of honor. Books were there from all over the Spanish Caribbean and South America, as well as book sellers. You don't see any of these materials here. The one Spanish language bookstore here in Manhattan was forced out of business a few years ago by the rents.
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Date: 2009-06-03 01:31 am (UTC)Even the swashbuckler, The Golden Hawk that overlapped with Golden Age of Piracy, is by an African American.
Edie Danticatt is Haitian and of color. Madison has been made an honorary Haitian of color by Haitians, as Ned Sublette has been made an honorary member of the Matanzas rumberos in Cuba, and the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans. If one wanted to do a non-fiction Haitian reading, there's the marvelous Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois -- of Haitian ancestry. His history of the Haitian Revolution, A Colony of Citizens won the Frederick Douglas Award for history.
Many of the islands hardly have or ever had a publishing industry, like the DR. There aren't many historical novels written about their island then, by illiterate slaves in the 19th century -- part of the tragedy of the Caribbean. Haiti had the most writing because of its connection with France, and that group of people in the middle, the mulattos and then the other, antagonist group (as it was perceived) the free blacks. It's all very complicated. Not just complex, but complicated.
Cuba publishes very few 'entertainment' books. It does a lot of historical romance/fiction on television though.
U.S. publishers are fairly hostile to Spanish language works out of the Caribbean. Nor do they like paying for translation. Editors have flat out told me, re Puerto Rico, for instance, "Puerto Ricans don't read. And nobody else cares."
You can see why Junot Díaz Oscar Wao is SUCH a big deal. We were at the DR's annual Feria del Libros last year when he was the guest of honor. Books were there from all over the Spanish Caribbean and South America, as well as book sellers. You don't see any of these materials here. The one Spanish language bookstore here in Manhattan was forced out of business a few years ago by the rents.
Love, C.