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Dearth of Hispanic Literary Agents Frustrates Writers
By Ivan Diaz(Ivan Diaz is a freelance writer living in New York City. He is currently shopping around his first novel, Generation Zero and, like many writers out there, he's looking for an agent. Click here to see a poster
announcing Ivan Diaz' new book release: On the Nature of the Puerto Rican Universe.)
Hispanic literary agents have yet to be spotted on the radar screen of the U.S. publishing world -and their absence restrains creative Latino expression profoundly. That's the sum of views expressed by Latinas and Latinos in the business. Orlando Plaza, 28-year-old Neuyorican poet/writer, vents the common frustration: "Martians on the 'The X-Files' get more exposure than we do. Finding a Latino agent and publisher is like finding Waldo." Ron Arias, a senior writer at People magazine with two published books to his credit, assesses it, "Right now, we're probably where blacks were some 30 years ago." The bible of literary agents, Literary Market Place, lists some 525 agencies, all employing one or more agents. Not one listing carries a Hispanic surname.
Just as barren is the roster of the Association of Authors' Representatives, Inc. Among its membership of 284, there are zero Hispanics. "I'm not surprised," says Arte Publico Press publisher Nicolas Kanellos. Arte Publico, based at the University of Houston since 1979, produces some 30 hard- and soft-cover books annuaDy, nearly all written by Hispanics. It is one of the few houses willing to look at manuscripts not submitted through an agent.
"Out of all the writers we've published, about one-third have had agents. None were Latino," Kanellos says. He describes the barriers: "Most agents start as editors and come right out of the publishing houses. If agencies are not interested in taking any Latinos in from the beginning, you're not going to see any Latino agents coming out." Publishers make a big mistake in failing to hire Latino editors, he says. "They underestimate the market value of Latinos in the United States as buyers of books."
Echoing Kanellos' views is Marie Arana-Ward, a former assistant editor at Harcourt Brace & Co. and Simon and Schuster. Now she's deputy editor of the Washington Post's Sunday "Book World" supplement. She stresses, "Having an agent makes a huge difference in how a contract is negotiated and how the book is handled." The dearth helps explain why there have been so few books in the literary marketplace authored by Hispanics or published by the juggernauts of the industry. It also raises the question of how many would-be authors are giving up on their dream of writing the "great Hispanic-American novel."
People's Arias makes this connection: "An agent is key in getting the right editor and the right packaging." His first book, The Road to Tamazunchale, a pioneer Chicano novel and "must" reading in Chicano Studies courses, was first published in 1975 by a tiny literary quarterly in Reno, Nevada. He never received a penny from it. The novel was picked up by two other small Western presses before Anchor Books/Doubleday bought it in 1992. Altogether, it has enjoyed more than a dozen printings.
His last book, Five Against the Sea, the odyssey of five Costa Rican fisherman adrift on a small, wooden boat in the Pacific for nearly five months, was published by Onyx/Penguin in 1990. Arias concluded the first book deals on his own. A non-Hispanic agent, Reid Boates, represented him on the latter after he wrote a cover story on the fishermen's exploit. Nicholasa Mohr, at 61 the author of several books, tells her experiences with agents: "I've had three but none have been Latino. I haven't had one in 10 years. I've never found an agent who would be sympathetic or sensitive to my kind of work."
Adds 68-year-old poet/writer Piri Thomas: "At the height of my success with Down These Mean Streets, no one had ever approached me about representation. The only agent I had was my wife who was a constitutional law attorney. She passed away." Jose Antonio Burciaga, author of four books and winner of the 1995 National Hispanic Award for Literature, says simply of Hispanic literary agents, "I wish I knew some." Submitting manuscripts to non-Latino agents, he adds, "presents a problem, because they don't know or recognize our work. They can be so insensitive to our work."
New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez sold his first book, Roll Down Your Window, based on his columns, when an executive of the London publishing house Verso heard him speak and encouraged him to submit his journalistic work. Now represented by a non-Hispanic agent, Gonzalez is completing a tome on the U.S. IIispanic experience, scheduled for release by Viking early next year.
Raul Rivera, a 27-year-old New Yorker working on his first novel, is worried about his own chances. "People need to remember that the success of one Latino writer doesn't mean that others will get a fair shake." Rafael Merino, standing in line at the cashier's stand at New York's Agueybana Book Store with a book of poetry by Julia de Burgos, laments: "Without Latino literary agents, many of our future writers will go unnoticed and a large part of world and literary history -- according to us -- will never be told. We can't let that happen."
SOME TIPS FOR WRITERS
If you are a writer looking for an agent, check out Literary Market Place at your local public library. The LMP, by Reed Reference Publishing, can be ordered by calling 1-800-521-8110. It costs $169.95.
Some agencies now encourage submissions by Latino writers. It's best to submit a query letter first. Among them:
Lowenstein & Morel. Contact: Barbara Lowenstein, 121 W. 27 St., Suite 601, New York, N.Y. 10001. Phone: 212-206-1630. Fax: 212-727-0280.L. Perkins Associates. Contact: Lori Perkins, 5800 Arlington Ave, Suite 18-J,. Riverdale, N.Y. 10471. Phone: 718-S43-5344. Fax: 718-543-5354.
Stepping Stone Literary Agency, Inc. Contact: Sarah Jane Freymann, 59 W. 71 St., New York, N.Y. 10023. Phone: 212-362-9277. Fax: 212-501-8240.
Victoria Sanders Literary Agency. Contact: Victoria Sanders, 241 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 11EI, New York, N.Y. 10014. Phone: 212-633-8811. Fax: 212-633-0525.
Reid Boates Literary Agency. Contact: Reid Boates, Box 328, 274 Cooks Crossroad, Pittstown, N.J. 08867-0328. Phone: 908-730-8523. Fax: 908-730-8931.
For a list of AAR-member agents, send a $5 check or money order and a 10 self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Association of Authors' Representatives, Inc., 10 Astor Place, 3rd Floor, New York, N.Y. 10003. Or call: 212-353-3709. AAR-member agents do not charge a reading fee.
If you have a novel or children's book, do not send the manuscript, but send a query letter to Dr. Nicolas Kanellos, Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, Houston, IX 77204-2090. Phone: 713-743-2841 Fax: 713-743-2847.
