Lots has happened since the last post.

I did not win the NAACP Image Award, but it was amazing to be nominated and to be in such fabulous company. Roxane Gay, whom I admire immensely, was there. (She didn't win either.) I sat at a table with Gregory Pardlo who just won the Pulitzer. So impressive!! Claudia Rankine, who's been winning many prizes with her book CITIZEN was at our table as well. In in my category, (Debut Author) Morowa Yejide (who didn't win either) was recently nominated for the PEN/Bellwether Prize. All this makes me even more grateful to have been a nominee. The award for literature is more prestigious than I'd realized and my book had no big publisher or PR, just me promoting it. And the red carpet pictures turned out well!

The book has since WON the 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award for Multicultural Fiction. Yay!

It's one of three finalists for an International LATINO BOOK AWARD in the category of "Most Inspirational Fiction Book." I'm pretty proud of that.

And it's a finalist for Forward Reviews' INDIE FAB Book of the Year Award.

I've completed recording for the audiobook and it's being edited now. Hoping to have it available for download by July.

I did LA BinderCon in late March and was on a fabulous panel along with Desiree Zamorano, Erika Wurth, and Neelanja Banerje. Adrienne Crew moderated. It was a great conversation and I think we encouraged and inspired our audience.

This weekend (May 9th) I'll be on another panel: THE STORIES ONLY I CAN TELL at Pasadena LitFest. Desiree Zamorano is moderating and in addition to me, panelists include Reyna Grande, Alex Espinosa, Wally Rudolph and Lisa Hernandez.

I'll be appearing in Idyllwild June 7th in conversation with brilliant author Eduardo Santiago and we'll be talking about my novel. This event is part of the Idyllwild Author Series and it's under the auspices of PEN USA.

And on June 13th, I'll be appearing at DIRTY LAUNDRY LIT at the Virgil in Hollywood in a show called EX. Very excited to be reading a short story that I've never read publicly before. It's from my collection in progress, LIGHT SKIN GONE TO WASTE.

If you're in LA hope to see you at one of the upcoming events.

XO