The Ohio State University Press announces the “Contemporary Latino Writers and Directors Series”

Frederick Luis Aldama, series editor

The Ohio State University Press proudly launches the Contemporary Latino Writers and Directors Series with Frederick Luis Aldama serving as the series editor.

Overview

The “Contemporary Latino Writers and Directors” series offers scholars the possibility of formulating an interpretive approach about a single or cluster of contemporary Latino authors (novelist, short story, poet, comic book author/artist) or directors (fiction and/or documentary). The goal of these books is to enrich our understanding of and pay critical attention to Latino authors or film directors. While there are many authors and directors we can readily identify who merit study, there are also (and in a way perhaps unforeseeable at the present time) authors and directors working today--or soon tomorrow--who will have a significant impact within Latino culture and the culture at large. Such an author or director may be the next Junot Díaz or Robert Rodriguez.

The Latino authors and directors published by the series will be assessed according to their cultural impact (present and potential), and not necessarily by the quantity of work done. Junot Díaz is a good case in point. He has published only one novel and two collections of stories, yet his impact has been huge. The same can be said of a film director like Alex Rivera who has made only one film to date, the award-winning Sleep Dealer, yet his cultural influence has been significant.

Books in the series will follow the format of a book-length essay and fall between 45,000 and 50,000 words. Each book will be organized according to major sub-headings rather than traditional chapters. They will present short, engagingly written, useful commentaries on contemporary Latino authors and film directors. While largely jargon-free, when the use of jargon is used (a short hand for a concept, for instance) the writers of the books will define it and explain its application. Theme, chronology, theoretical, or historical frameworks might be used depending on the scholar’s preference; historical, cultural, regional, even biographical information would be included where necessary. These critical studies will provide real criticism that offer readers a true understanding of either a single or series of Latino author(s) or film director (s). Each volume consists of incisive interpretive and critical commentary, historical/biographical information, and a detailed bibliography. Each book will include interviews with the author (or authors) or film director (or directors). These will not slip into hagiographies, but rather shed light on what works and what does not work according to reasoned analysis. That is, they will be interpretive and critical.

While there is no determined length to the interview section, books in the series will include interviews that do not take up more than 10,000 words. The scholar will establish the template for the interview as a last phase of the research and writing so that the questions enrich the information and analysis already presented in the main body of the book. Once again, both everything that precedes the interview and everything in the interview will aim at making the book memorable. There will be no padding. And the interviewee will be allowed to edit for clarity and eventual supplementary information.

The books in the series will be highly informative and critically interpretive in content. They will identify for a large readership the great variety of Latino authors and directors who are actively shaping Latino and mainstream culture. The series will grow with the idea that individually and collectively they will serve a wide ranging function: to make known all variety of Latino authors and directors to all variety of readers--from high school, college, to retirement.

The “Contemporary Latino Writers and Directors” series will offer accessible scholarly inquiry into one aspect (literature and film) that has become a comprehensive Latino cultural presence in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. The series will make visible the contributions of Latino creators working in the areas of literature and film.

SUGGESTED LIST OF AUTHORS

Graphic novelists:

Joe Quesada (Cuban American)

Ivan Velez Jr. (Puerto Rican American)

Frank Espinosa (Cuban American)

Inverna Lockpez (Cuban American)

Wilfred Santiago (Puerto Rican American)

Rafael Navarro (Mexican American)

Rhode Montijo (Mexican American)

Gilbert Hernandez (Mexican American)

Mario Hernandez(Mexican American)

Jaime Hernandez(Mexican American)

Javier Hernandez(Mexican American)

Mexican Americans:

Susana Chávez-Silverman

Emma Pérez

Alma Luz Villanueva

Sheila Ortiz Taylor

Denise Chávez

Xochiquetzal Candelaria

Sesshu Foster

Alfredo Véa

Cecile Pineda

Lucha Corpi

Demetria Martinez

Monseratt Fontes

Michele Serros

Belinda Acosta

Tanya Maria Barrientos

Rudolfo Anaya

Alejandro Morales

Helena María Viramontes

Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Xyta Maya Murray

Tey Diana Rebolledo

Dagoberto Gilb

John Rechy

Salvador Plascencia

Pat Mora

Alurista

Isabella Ríos

Michael Nava

Norma Cantú

Richard Rodriguez

Cristina Ibarra

John J. Valadez

Cuban American:

Matías Montes Huidobro

Gustavo Perez Firmat

Achy Obejas

John Lantigua

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera

Elías Miguel Muñoz

Ruth Behar

Aleida Rodríguez

Ricardo Pau-Llosa

Virgil Suarez

Mirta Ojito

Ana Mendéndez

Margarita Engle

Naomi Ayala

Jack Agüeros

Cecilia Rodríguez

Eric Garcia

Zoé Valdés

Cristina García

Oscar Hijuelos

Dominican American:

Loida Maritza Perez

Rhina Espaillat

Angie Cruz

Rhina Espaillat

Angie Cruz

Julia Alvarez

Nelly Rosario

Marta Moreno Vega

Puerto Rican American:

Sandra Rodriguez Barron

Martín Espada

Irene Vilar

Sofia Quintero

Giannina Braschi

Nicholasa Mohr

Abraham Rodriguez Jr.

Carmen de Monteflores

Esmeralda Santiago

Luisita Lopez Torregrosa

Latino Americans:

Ruben Martinez (Salvadoran American)

Kathleen de Azevedo (Brazilian-American)

Marie Arana (Peruvian-American)

Daniel Alarcón (Peruvian-American)

Ariel Dorfman (Chilean American)

Héctor Tobar (Guatemalan American)

Alberto Ríos (Guatemalan American)

Sylvia Sellers-Garcia (Guatemalan American)

Francisco Goldman (Guatemalan American)

Christina Henriquez (Panamanian American)

Jaime Manrique (Colombian American)

Lilia Cobbs (Colombian American)

C. Dale Young (Latino/Asian)

Sigrid Nunez (Latino/Asian)

SUGGESTED LIST OF DIRECTORS

Carlos Ávila (Mex American)

Jesse Borrego (Mex American)

Paul Espinosa (Mex American)

Gregory Nava (Mex-American)

Lourdes Portillo (Mexican American)

Alfredo De Villa (Mex American)

Hector Galán (Mex American)

Efrain Gutierrez (Mex American)

Nancy de los Santos (Mex American)

Rick Tejada-Flores (Puerto Rican American)

Marcos Zurinaga (Puerto Rican American)

Miguel Arteta (Puerto Rican American

Marcos Zurinaga (Puerto Rican American)

Frances Negrón-Muntaner (Puerto Rican American)

Judith Escalona (Puerto Rican American)

Jacobo Morales (Puerto Rican American)

Franc Reyes (Puerto Rican American)

Linda Mendoza (Cuban American)

Sergio Giral (Cuban American)

Leon Ichaso (Cuban American)

Joe Menendez (Cuban American)

Ramón Menéndez (Cuban American)

George Romero (Cuban American)

Jessy Torrero (Dominican American)

Alfredo De Villa (Mexican American)

Gustavo Hernández Pérez (Venezuelan American)

Rodrigo García (Colombian American)

Orlando Jimenez-Leal (Cuban American)

Patricia Cardoso (Colombian-American)

ABOUT THE SERIES EDITOR:

Frederick Luis Aldama is Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at The Ohio State University, United States, where he teaches Latino/a and Latin American post-colonial literature, film, and comics, as well as narrative theory and cognitive science approaches to culture. Prof. Aldama obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1999. He received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in English from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992. For questions about the series or wish to be considered as an author for the series, you may e-mail Prof. Aldama at aldama.1@osu.edu or aldamaf@hotmail.com.