Interview with Christina Fernandez-Morrow, Latino Community Examiner

 

 

Thanks for being my guest today, Christina. It looks as though you keep yourself pretty busy. Why don't you start by telling us a little about your background?

 

I am originally from Chicago and moved to Iowa for college. I have since moved around a lot but ended up back in Des Moines to be closer to family and to support my husband's company. I have spent the last 10 years helping companies like State Farm and H&R Block reach diverse markets throughout the US and Caribbean.

 

 

I have been an Examiner since April. I saw an ad in the paper looking for writers and when I looked into the topics they wanted covered, I knew that I wanted to cover the life of Latinos in Des Moines.

 

I focus on what it's like to be Latino in Des Moines, which is very different than being Latino in most other places I've lived. Des Moines is a small city where you have unbelievable access to decision-makers and I have had wonderful opportunities to be a part of initiatives that benefit the Latino community such as helping the library choose Latino authors and books about Latinos, founding Iowa's Latino Heritage Festival, and leading Hispanic Educational Resources, Inc. into their greatest endowment and operating budget ever. I plan to showcase Latinos who are making an impact in Des Moines, highlight Latino-owned businesses, describe our contributions to the city and offer the Latino perspective of life in Des Moines.

 

I would like to have a publishing house that focuses on Latino authors and promotes them and their work through advanced media options. There are so many Latino imprints being shut down or reduced to a one-person operation that I think it's time to create a publishing house that specializes in Latino writers of all genres. I currently enjoy reading fiction but writing non-fiction. If I were to write a book, it would be a collection of the stories of how Latinos from all over Latin America ended up in Iowa. I always ask Latinos I meet in Des Moines what led them to this land-locked, low population state and the stories are always fascinating. I envision it being a multi-media project that can be easily accessed by the public of all ages.

 

Not really but I am trying to be. I try to write an Examiner entry every 2 days but sometimes life gets in the way!

 

I have a ton but a few of them are Esmeralda Santiago, Alisa Valdes Rodriguez, Rebecca Wells, Marta Acosta, Mary Castillo, David Sedaris, Barbara Ferrer....the list could go on for days. I generally read 2 to 3 books at a time!

 

I read almost exclusively in English. I am fluent in Spanish but the only books I have ever enjoyed reading in Spanish were by Esmeralda Santiago. Since I mostly like books by US Latino authors, and most live primarily in English, as do I, it is more relateable to me in English.

 

I completed the University of Denver's Publishing Institute, am a  member of Nunca Sola and try my best to keep in touch with Latino authors and keep up with what's going on in the publishing world so that I can start building my network that will help me make Latino author's work more accessible in the future.