As a bilingual educator in Texas, Hernandez often sought books by Latinx and Black authors. “I believe representation matters, and the best place for children to see themselves represented is in books,” she said. “So, I always looked for more multicultural books.”
There weren’t as many as she would like, she said.
“There are not a lot of Latinx writers, and those that do explore getting their works published face challenges. Writing the actual book is the easiest part, but paying the editors and helping with marketing is expensive,” she said.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic “pushing a lot of us to decide what we want in our lives,” coupled with the Black Lives Matter movement of the past year, she said more and more people are looking to tell their stories.