Interview with Anjanette Delgado

Anjanette Delgado is the author of The Heartbreak Pill, which won 1st place in the Best Romance category at the Latino International Book Awards.

Welcome!

Can you please tell us a little bit about the kinds of books you write and how your culture affects your craft?

My books are written for modern women and have been called “smart chick lit.”


Please describe the Latina heroine(s) in your book.

They’re always women who set to learn something in order to be happy. This stems from my absolute belief in self-transformation. My heroines believe they can change their life for the price of a used paperback.

Who is your intended audience, if any?

I truly believe that everyone can enjoy my books, and I do have the fan mail to prove it. (You wouldn’t believe the diversity in them.) But, I do feel that they land hardest among women like me: multicultural, modern, and trying to be happy and to make sense of life.


How do you feel your books influence Latinas?

Hopefully, they’ll influence them to learn whatever they need to learn to remove whatever stands in the way of their happiness.



What does being Latina mean to you?

Well, for one thing it means a very different thing from being Hispanic. You see, I can be Hispanic living in Puerto Rico, Colombia, or anyplace else for that matter. It just means I come from a Spanish-speaking country. But being Latina means sharing the immigrant experience as it is lived in the USA. Two completely different things. One is secure in its identity because that identity is held by the context of place; the other has to define and protect that identity, even as it goes through the acculturation process of having chosen to live in this country.



What do you think the future holds for today’s Latina?

Oh, the world is the limit. We have so much to give, to contribute. I believe we can be a force for great good. We can be uniters. We can create multicultural bonds. When I’m hanging out with my Jewish friends, and with my African American friends, or my white friends... I see no difference. I see mothers, women. We are sassy, funny, dramatic, scary when we’re angry. We’re all just women.



What are some of your favorite Latina authors and why?

I like Josefina Lopez because because she’s real. She says whatever needs to be said. I also like
Liz Balmaseda, Fabiola Santiago, Carolina Garcia Aguilera, Julia Amante, and Stephanie Greist.



Do you have a website or a blog?

http://www.anjanettedelgado.com/

Thank you!