Happy Book Launch Day, Anna!
Welcome, Anna, and congrats on the release of your debut MG, MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE!
Thanks, Dionna! Happy to be here!
Such an exciting day! May 5, 2024, the day your debut novel for kids ages 10-14 publishes with Levine Querido! Please share what your book is about.
Absolutely! It's about a young girl who wants two things: to get her period, and to thwart her mom's plan to take her to Guatemala, a place that has always been more of a mystery than an answer. One day, she discovers secret letters between her mom and a disappeared feminist-journalist aunt, giving Mani both a lesson in Guatemalan history, but also in how to stand up to some of the injustices going on around her. While at school, Mani and her best friends, Las Nerdas, take action and speak up, demanding the right to feel safe while the administration turns a blind eye to the way they are constantly being harassed, assaulted, groped, bullied, recorded, abused, and humiliated by other students. As the story unfolds, Mani finds her voice.
Wow. Some might say that's a tough topic for young readers. What do you say?
It's true, that the topic may me "tough," but girls as young as 12 are up against tough circumstances, and they, like Mani, may be shy and need to find the courage to speak up.
True this. What inspired you to write your book MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE?
So many things! It all started with a question. Someone asked me if I remember the first time I got my period. All of a sudden, it came back to me. I was eleven and visiting my mother's side of the family in Guatemala City. I was standing on top of a slide in Burger King. My second cousins were taunting me for my (at the time) thick accent in Spanish. The question and memory inspired me so much that when I got home I wrote a story about a Guatemalan-American girl obsessed with getting her period and eager to enter womanhood. Over a year, it morphed from a story about periods into a story about discovering secret letters from disappeared journalist aunts, mother-daughter relationships, coming into activism, and exploring the question about what it means to be a feminist at any age. As someone who has Guatemalan, Hawaiian, German and Filipino heritage, I was also inspired to write a character whose interest in her history and heritage is more of a journey with plenty of ups and downs.
It's been said that to make a book that's full of heart and authenticity, we should write what we know, and more importantly what we feel. You certainly did that! No wonder your book has gotten so many stellar reviews!
Thanks, Dionna! Happy to be here!
Such an exciting day! May 5, 2024, the day your debut novel for kids ages 10-14 publishes with Levine Querido! Please share what your book is about.
Absolutely! It's about a young girl who wants two things: to get her period, and to thwart her mom's plan to take her to Guatemala, a place that has always been more of a mystery than an answer. One day, she discovers secret letters between her mom and a disappeared feminist-journalist aunt, giving Mani both a lesson in Guatemalan history, but also in how to stand up to some of the injustices going on around her. While at school, Mani and her best friends, Las Nerdas, take action and speak up, demanding the right to feel safe while the administration turns a blind eye to the way they are constantly being harassed, assaulted, groped, bullied, recorded, abused, and humiliated by other students. As the story unfolds, Mani finds her voice.
Wow. Some might say that's a tough topic for young readers. What do you say?
It's true, that the topic may me "tough," but girls as young as 12 are up against tough circumstances, and they, like Mani, may be shy and need to find the courage to speak up.
True this. What inspired you to write your book MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE?
So many things! It all started with a question. Someone asked me if I remember the first time I got my period. All of a sudden, it came back to me. I was eleven and visiting my mother's side of the family in Guatemala City. I was standing on top of a slide in Burger King. My second cousins were taunting me for my (at the time) thick accent in Spanish. The question and memory inspired me so much that when I got home I wrote a story about a Guatemalan-American girl obsessed with getting her period and eager to enter womanhood. Over a year, it morphed from a story about periods into a story about discovering secret letters from disappeared journalist aunts, mother-daughter relationships, coming into activism, and exploring the question about what it means to be a feminist at any age. As someone who has Guatemalan, Hawaiian, German and Filipino heritage, I was also inspired to write a character whose interest in her history and heritage is more of a journey with plenty of ups and downs.
It's been said that to make a book that's full of heart and authenticity, we should write what we know, and more importantly what we feel. You certainly did that! No wonder your book has gotten so many stellar reviews!
“Anna Lapera expertly voices a young girl’s middle school trials, but with a voice so unique and heartfelt you will be cringing one moment and cheering the next. She weaves a distinctive story filled with humor, family heartache, and secrets while a young girl releases the fear of her voice and grasps its power.” --Newbery Medalist Donna Barba Higuera
What did you enjoy about working with your editor as you revised MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE?
I have been so lucky that the people who have helped bring MANI to life REALLY loved and understood her voice. My editor, Irene Vázquez at Levine Querido, helped MANI's voice to really shine. It was so clear to me that they understood Mani as a character. I NEVER had to clarify or explain something about why Mani would say this or that. They just got it. In fact, they showed me ways we could push Mani's voice and Mani-isms even further. Each round of edits got closer to the heart of the story and to Mani's voice. I had so much fun with the editing process!
No doubt the fun spilled out from the process and onto the page! As an ESL middle-school teacher, a mother of a 6-year-old and 1-year-old, and a wife, how do you juggle your responsibilities and still find time to write?
The answer to this question always changes! I am constantly trying to find how and when to write. It's day by day. Thankfully, my husband does most of the cooking, which gives me some writing time. That helps! I wrote the first draft of MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE from 4 to 6 a.m. every single day over the course of one year. Some people are impressed when I tell them how early I wake up to write, but I am impressed with people who are able to stay up late writing! I have not been able to be a night-writer. As a teacher and mom, that was literally the only time I had available to me. Now that I have another little one, there are days when I simply just don't get to write more than one sentence.
What are you working on now, besides taking care of your little one, and promoting your new release?
I am working on book number two, so I am slowly getting back to my morning writing sessions, because that is my time when no one else is awake. That doesn't mean that I feel super inspired every morning. I keep telling myself that what I am working on is just a first draft and that it doesn't have to be amazing right away. I am really into running and I've heard people in the sports and running world talk about how discipline is more important than motivation. I remind myself that sometimes when the writing doesn't sound pretty!
Perspiration and pushing through accomplishes much! Well, Anna, congrats once again on your release, and for allowing me to have a small share in celebrating it's release today, and please do check back in when I can celebrate Book 2!
Thank you, Dionna! And will do!
I have been so lucky that the people who have helped bring MANI to life REALLY loved and understood her voice. My editor, Irene Vázquez at Levine Querido, helped MANI's voice to really shine. It was so clear to me that they understood Mani as a character. I NEVER had to clarify or explain something about why Mani would say this or that. They just got it. In fact, they showed me ways we could push Mani's voice and Mani-isms even further. Each round of edits got closer to the heart of the story and to Mani's voice. I had so much fun with the editing process!
No doubt the fun spilled out from the process and onto the page! As an ESL middle-school teacher, a mother of a 6-year-old and 1-year-old, and a wife, how do you juggle your responsibilities and still find time to write?
The answer to this question always changes! I am constantly trying to find how and when to write. It's day by day. Thankfully, my husband does most of the cooking, which gives me some writing time. That helps! I wrote the first draft of MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE from 4 to 6 a.m. every single day over the course of one year. Some people are impressed when I tell them how early I wake up to write, but I am impressed with people who are able to stay up late writing! I have not been able to be a night-writer. As a teacher and mom, that was literally the only time I had available to me. Now that I have another little one, there are days when I simply just don't get to write more than one sentence.
What are you working on now, besides taking care of your little one, and promoting your new release?
I am working on book number two, so I am slowly getting back to my morning writing sessions, because that is my time when no one else is awake. That doesn't mean that I feel super inspired every morning. I keep telling myself that what I am working on is just a first draft and that it doesn't have to be amazing right away. I am really into running and I've heard people in the sports and running world talk about how discipline is more important than motivation. I remind myself that sometimes when the writing doesn't sound pretty!
Perspiration and pushing through accomplishes much! Well, Anna, congrats once again on your release, and for allowing me to have a small share in celebrating it's release today, and please do check back in when I can celebrate Book 2!
Thank you, Dionna! And will do!
Anna Lapera is a writer, educator and sometimes runner based in the DC area. She comes from a Guatemalan mother and Hawaiian-Filipino-German father, and was raised all over the world. She teaches by day and writes stories about girls stepping into their power in the early hours of the morning before the teaching day begins. She is a member of Las Musas, a 2022 Macondista and Kweli Journal mentee, and has received financial support from Tin House, Kweli Journal and SCBWI. When she’s not writing or teaching, you can find her visiting trails and coffee shops in DC and Maryland, where she lives with her family. MANI SEMILLA FINDS HER QUETZAL VOICE is her debut novel, Find Anna online HERE.
