If you’ve been following the debate around #AmericanDirt, #ownvoices and #dignidadliteraria, this is a must-listen.
And as a Latina writer whose first book was published by @Flatironbooks, I have some thoughts to share. 1/
.@Flatironbooks was a brand new division of @MacmillanUSA when it took a chance on me, a novice book writer whose first language isn’t English, and published “The Fire Line,” where I write about people who are very different than me: firefighters who fight wildfires. 2/
I got a lot of support from @Flatironbooks as I wrote and as I navigated the skepticism of wildland firefighters—white men, mostly—who doubted a woman and an immigrant from Brazil could capture their world. I worked hard to prove them wrong and 3/
... if you ask them or read reviews of “The Fire Line” on Amazon, you’ll see that I succeeded.
My experience makes it difficult to believe a few things @jeaninecummins said. (Could she really be that clueless, disconnected from her project or that naïve?) For example 4/
She says the publishing process was out of her hands and, bc of that, she had no say on the jacket of her book. I still have a printout of the jacket my editor at @Flatironbooks mailed to me for my approval ahead of publication of “The Fire Line.” Seems to me 5/
... @jeaninecummins either knew and didn’t see anything wrong with the barbed wire or wasn’t really that engaged in her book to care about the design of the jacket, a crucial selling point that also telegraphs the spirit of the book. I don’t know how an author could not care. 6/
True that once can’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case, the cover of #AmericanDirt reveals so much about the lack of knowledge, understanding and care by its author and the team at @Flatironbooks. 7/
They sought to capitalize on an issue through the most tenuous of connections (LOOK! She’s married to a formerly undocumented immigrant! She’s legit!) & make a political statement that encompasses all that’s wrong about the prevailing narrative around the migrant experience. 8/
My gratitude goes to Luís Alberto Urrea @Urrealism for persevering for 10 YEARS to find a publisher for “Across the Wire” and adding his middle name to leave no one no doubt about his roots. And to @Maria_Hinojosa, who has always stayed true to who she is. Finally ... 9/
... I do know—bc a few pple in publishing/bookselling industry have told me—that my name, my gender and my ethnicity made it challenging to market “The Fire Line,” a book that my own employer at the time didn’t review.
I stand proud of it and very, very proud of who I am. -30-
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