FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tina Jordan,
212/255-0200 ext.263,
tjordan@publishers.org 

“READING WITH LAS COMADRES”  WILL HIGHLIGHT LATINA AUTHORS

 Program Begins  Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration -

New York, NY/Austin Texas, September 5, 2007 - With an emphasis on books written by Latinas, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Publishing Latino Voices of America, and Las Comadres Para Las Americas (www.lascomadres.org), have joined forces to launch Reading With Las Comadres. The program is the cornerstone of the two organizations’ support of September’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

In the program’s initial phase, members of Las Comadres will read a book a month, with the selected authors featured in teleconferences so that Comadres can learn more about the inspiration behind their works.

Founded in April 2000, Las Comadres is an informal Internet-based group that meets monthly in more than 50 US cities (and growing), to build connections and community among  Latinas.  Las Comadres provides the framework that allows more than  7,000 Latinas to work together, network, cultivate business contacts and employment opportunities,  and share news in states across the country,  including New York, Texas, California, Washington, North Carolina, Florida. .

An advisory committee comprising members of the  Las Comadres board  and  select Las Comadres city networks  will recommend and select the books to be featured in the teleconferences and read by the Las Comadres Book Clubs, soon to be launched nationwide. The first selection for September is Dancing to“Almendra” by Mayra Montero (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), which will be read by the Las Comadres New York City Book Club  and others across the country.   Set in the city of Mayra Montero’s birth in a  tumultuous time of glamour and corruption, Dancing to “Almendra” courses through 1957 Havana,  peopled by gangsters, zookeepers, and cabaret dancers. The New York Times called Dancing to “Almendra,” “a flawless little book with a deceptively light touch.”

 Nora Comstock, President of Las Comadres said of the selection:  “We chose this book because, like all of Mayra’s work, it touches on greater themes but lives in the world of its characters. You are instantly engrossed and charmed by the first page, gorgeous language, pulsing characters, and a touch of magical realism.” The New York City Book Club will meet on Thursday, September 20,  at the Borders book store at Columbus Circle, with the author teleconference scheduled the same week. Exact times and dates can be found on the  Las Comadres Web site at www.lascomadres.org.

Additional titles will be announced each month.

“Reading with Las Comadres emphasizes the importance of literacy and reading within  one of the largest communities in the nation, highlighting the joy books bring to the Hispanic community,” said AAP President and CEO Pat Schroeder.   “We’re honored to be working with an organization that has a powerful impact both as readers themselves and as those raising future generations of readers, in underscoring the pleasure that books bring to children of all ages.”

Reading With Las Comadres was featured at BookExpo America last June with renowned Latina authors Ana Castillo, author of The Guardians (Random House); Michelle Herrera Mulligan, editor of the anthology, Juicy Mangos: The Best Latina Erotica (Atria); and Julia Alvarez, author of Once Upon a Quinceañera:  Coming of Age in the USA (Viking) all discussing their upcoming English language works. New York Times journalist and author Mirta Ojito, author of Finding Mañana:  A Memoir of Cuban Exodus (Vintage Español) hosted the event.

About Hispanic Heritage Month
In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week.  The observance was expanded in 1988 to a month long celebration from September 15 to October 15. Throughout the month, America celebrates the culture and traditions of U.S. residents who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. September 15 was chosen as the start date for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of several Spanish speaking countries. 

Hispanic Population in The Unites States:  U.S. Census Bureau Estimates
According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates the Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2006 was 44.3 million or 15 percent of the nation’s total population making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority. These estimates do not include the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico.  Approximately one of every two people added to the nation's population between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006 was Hispanic and 1.4 million were added to the population over the period.   Percentage increase in the Hispanic population between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006 was 3.4% 2006, making Hispanics  the fastest-growing minority group. Some other U.S. Census Bureau Statistics:

• 102.6 million is the projected Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24 percent of the nation's total population by that date.
• In 2005 the size of the U.S. Hispanic population ranked third worldwide. Only Mexico (106.2 million) and Colombia (43 million) had larger Hispanic populations than the United States (42.7 million). Spain had a population of 40.3 million.
• 64 percent of Hispanic-origin people in the U.S. are of Mexican background; 9 percent are of Puerto Rican background; 3.5 percent are of Cuban background; 3 percent are of Salvadoran background; and 2.7 percent are of Dominican background. The remainder are of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or      Latino origin. (Source: 2005 American Community Survey)
• 27.4 years is the median age of the Hispanic population in 2006. This compares with  36.4 years for the population as a whole.

About the Association of American Publishers:
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies-small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities. "

The AAP Publishing Latino Voices for America Task force was formed in 2002 in recognition of the growing Latino community in the United States and the phenomenal growth of the Latino book market. 

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