Indie Publishers Honored at the 9^th International Latino Book Awards

By Ximena Diego -- Críticas, 6/15/2007

HarperCollins and Villegas Editores were, yet again, the big winners of this year’s International Latino Book Awards. Published largely by its Rayo imprint, HarperCollins’s 11 winners included El dinero que hay en tí (The Money in You; 2006) for Best Business Book (Spanish), Tú. El manual de instrucciones (You: The Owner’s Manual; 2006) for Best Health Book (Spanish), and La primera luna llena de Gatita (Kitten’s First Full Moon; 2006) for Best Children’s Book (Spanish). The Colombian publishing house received accolades for eight of its titles, including Púberman (2006) for Best Education Children’s Book (Spanish), Nostradamus (2006) for Best New Age Book (English), and Bogotá 360, Inside the City (2006) for Best Arts Book (English).

During the awards ceremony—which took place at Book Expo America (BEA) and was attended by many publishers and few, if any, authors—Rueben Martinez, founder and president of Librería Martinez, presented the Mariposa Awards, which highlight outstanding works by first-time authors. The awards for Best First Book in English and Spanish, respectively, went to Sandra Rodríguez’s The Heiress of Water (Rayo, 2006) and Connie Reza’s Leah Ann adopta un perico (“Leah Ann Adopts A Parrot”; 2006). Reza’s work, which also won Best Children’s Audio Book, is published by ¡yo puedo!, an independent publishing house from Houston, Texas that specializes in bilingual materials.

Other indie publishers sharing the spotlight this year were Wings Press, from San Antonio, Texas, winner of Best Poetry Book in Spanish for Marjorie Agosín’s Among the Angels of Memory / Entre los ángeles de la memoria (2006) andCholita Prints & Publishing, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, winner of Best Young Adult Fiction for Andalucía Quan’s La chica de Mendiburo (“The Girl From Mendiburo”; 2006).

Now in its 9th year, the Latino Book Awards has grown dramatically. This is the second year that the awards have honored international publishers, and this time around the organizers “received fifty percent more entries than last year” according to Tony Diaz, this year’s master of ceremonies. Organized by Latino Literacy Now and co hosted by the Latino Book and Family Festival, the ceremony took place on May 31 at New York City’s Javits Center.

Other noteworthy award winners were Super Oscar (Simon&Schuster, 2006) for Best Children’s Picture Book (Bilingual), Breve historia de Cuba (“Brief History of Cuba,” Pureplay Press, 2006) for Best History/Political Book (Spanish), Ama de verdad, vive de verdad (“Real Love, Real Life,” Berkeley Pub., 2006) for Best Self-Help Book (Spanish), Ayude a sus hijos a tener éxito en la escuela (“Help Your Children Succeed in School,” Sphinx Publishing, 2006) for Reference Book (Spanish), El corrido de Dante (Arte Público, 2006) for Best Novel-Adventure or Drama (Spanish), and Malinche (Atria, 2006) for Best Novel (Spanish) and Best Fiction Audio Book (FonoLibro, 2006).

The Latino Book Awards were created in 1999 to honor excellence in Latino literature and recognize the positive contributions by publishers and writers. Latino Literacy Now is a non-profit organization that supports and promotes literacy and literary excellence within the Latino community. For a complete list of winners go to: www.lbff.us/sponsors/press-room/latinobook/index.htm.