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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Tour Virtual para Escritores Latinos Agosto/Latino Virtual Book Tour August

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW
Este mes dentro del Tour de Escritores Latinos tengo el placer de presentarles al escritor Cubano Raúl Ramos y Sánchez. Después de leer acerca Raúl, por favor siéntete con libertad de dejar un comentario o hacer preguntas, él visitará mi blog durante todo el día para responderte a través de la zona de comentarios. Raúl generosamente ha ofrecido un libro autografiado para regalar a un afortunado ganador que será escogido al azar entre los que dejen comentarios hasta la media noche de hoy 5 de Agosto, (hora del pacífico).

Biografía (traducido del Inglés por Mi!)

Raúl Ramos y Sánchez es un escritor cubano radicado en Los Estados Unidos. Es fundador asociado de BRC Marketing, agencia de publicidad establecida en 1992 con oficinas en Ohio y California. Aparte de desarrollar el documental para la televisión pública Two Americas (Dos Américas): The Legacy of our Hemisphere ( "El Legado de nuestro Hemisferio"), es el encargado de My Immigration Story (La historia de mi imigración), un foro en línea para la comunidad imigrante de los Estados Unidos. Ramos comenzó a escribir su novela America Libre en 2004, la cual fue adquirida por Grand Central Publishing (anteriormente Warner Books) después de cinco meses de haber sido autopublicada. La versión revisada de Grand Central Publishing fue publicada el 29 de Julio de este año. Grand Central Publishing ha adquirido El Nuevo Alamo, la segunda parte de America Libre, el cual será publicado en 2010.

EN SUS PROPIAS PALABRAS (extracto de la página web de Raúl, tomado y traducido con su autorización)

"January" fue la primera palabra que aprendí en Inglés. La lei en el calendario colgado en nuestro departamento en el Bronx. Han-noo-a-ree, la pronuncié. Este fue el invierno de 1957. Mi madre recién se habia divorciado de mi padre y me había traido desde la Havana hasta la ciudad de Nueva York. Mi padre estaba muy ocupado tratando de derrocar a Batista y mi madre pensó que sería mucho mejor criar a un niño de 7 años, cosiendo lentejuelas en vestidos de noche en el distrito textil, que en una cárcel. Gracias mamá, hiciste lo correcto.

Desde aquel instante en que aprendí mi primera palabra en inglés, el poder y alegría de las palabras han sido mi vida. No sólo amo las palabras, vivo de ellas. Primero componiéndolas en páginas, como diseñador gráfico, y después formando enunciados como escritor de comerciales. Después de 24 años de crear esta ficcióón conocida como publicidad, he decidido comenzar a plasmar mis propias historias.

America Libre es mi primera novela. La idea vino, cuando un productor con el que estaba trabajando en la televisión pública me dijo: "Tu deberías de escribir un libro acerca de esto". La película en la que estabamos trabajando era un estudio comparativo de los aspectos políticos y raciales en los Estados Unidos y Latinoamerica. A pesar de contar con una impresionante cantidad de becarios internacionales, estabamos teniendo problemas para conseguir fondos. Inspirado por la idea del productor, empecé a escribir mientras esperábamos por una respuesta. Muy pronto los personajes cobraron vida y llevé la historia mas allá de la idea original de la película. Mientras más se tardaban en responder a nuestra petición de fondos, más escribía. Después de setenta y cinco mil palabras, me di cuenta que esta pieza de ficción expresaba el mensaje de la película de una manera mas convincente. Hasta la fecha estamos esperando por la inversión.

Puedes leer el primer capítulo de America Libre aquí (en inglés). Y por favor no te olvides de checar los otros blogueros participantes en Agosto para que conozcas un poco mas sobre este talentoso escritor. Los puedes ver al final de este artículo, así como el trailer del libro, no te lo puedes perder!

ENGLISH VERSION
It's time for our Latino Virtual Book Tour!

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Raul Ramos y Sanchez. After you get to know a little bit more about Raul through this post, please feel free to leave a comment or question for him. He will be visiting this blog and answering your questions. Raul has offered an autographed book as a giveaway to a randomly chosen winner from those who leave a comment or question for him on this blog up until midnight tonight PST.

BIO
A long-time resident of the U.S. Midwest, Cuban-born Raul Ramos y Sanchez is a founding partner of BRC Marketing, an ad agency established in 1992 with offices in Ohio and California. Besides developing a documentary for public television, Two Americas: The Legacy of our Hemisphere, he is host of MyImmigrationStory an online forum for the U.S. immigrant community. Ramos began writing America Libre in 2004, with the input of scholars from Latin America, Spain, and the United States. After five months as a self-published edition, America Libre, was acquired by Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books). The revised version of the novel by Grand Central Publishing was released July 29, 2009. Grand Central Publishing also acquired El Nuevo Alamo, the sequel to America Libre. El Nuevo Alamo is slated for release in 2010.

IN HIS OWN WORDS (excerpt from Raul's web page, posted with his authorization)

“January” is the first English word I ever learned. I read it on the calendar thumbtacked to the wall of our apartment in the Bronx. Han-noo-a-ree, I pronounced it. That was in the winter of 1957. My mother had just divorced my father and moved us from Havana to New York City. My father was busy trying to overthrow Batista and my mother thought her prospects for raising a seven-year-old son looked much better sewing sequins on evening gowns in the midtown garment district than in a Cuban prison. Thanks, mamá. You made the right call.

Since mastering that first English word, the power and joy of words have become my life. I not only love words, I’ve made a living from them. First, composing them into pages as a graphic designer, and later arranging them into sentences as an advertising writer. After twenty-four years of creating the fiction commonly known as advertising, I decided to start telling my own stories.

America Libre is my first novel. The idea came when the producer I was working with on a public television film said, “You should write a book about this.” The film was a comparative study of the political and racial landscapes of the U.S. and Latin America. Despite the project’s impressive collection of international scholars, we were struggling to find funding. Inspired by the producer’s idea, I began to write while waiting for the foundations to respond. Soon, the characters came to life and took the story far beyond the original scope of the film. The longer the foundations took, the more I wrote. Seventy-five thousand words later, I realized this piece of fiction had expressed the message of the film in a much more compelling way. I’m still waiting for the funding on the film.

You can read the first chapter of his book here. Please don't forget to check all the August participating bloggers to learn a little more about Raul (see list below)



21 comments:

  1. Buenos Días, Raúl, gracias por permitirme contar parte de tu historia y por compartir tu libro con nosotros.

    Yo haré la primera pregunta, ¿tu libro sera publicado en español?

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  2. Por el momento, la decision de lanzar una edicion en espanol todavia esta en el aire. Yo pienso que la transduccion sera posible si ventas de la edicion en ingles son substancial. Claro, you quisiera ver la transduccion. Pero las fuerzas del mercado ultimamente van a dirigir esa posibilidad.

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  3. Raul, encantada de ponerme a tus ordenes para la traduccion.

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  4. I know the translation would be in great hands, Teresa! Vamos a ver si puedo convencer a los publicadores.

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  5. It's interesting to read the two versions! I realized I miss Spanish very much.

    Good luck with your tour, Raul! It's going good.

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  6. Welcome Teresa and Mayra, thanks for stopping by.

    I love to write a bilingual blog Mayra, but is a lot of work!!

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  7. What a great post. And such a nice blog Silvia! I look forward to visiting more often.

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  8. Thanks to all my great friends from Nunca Sola for stopping by to visit. I truly appreciate your support!

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  9. My first words after coming from Cuba were those to the Doublemint gum television commercial. We watched so we could learn English faster! Thank you for your insights. All the best with your release.

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  10. Welcome to my blog. Thank you Icess for your words

    Caridad I use the TV to learn English too, I think is a great tool, subtitled movies as well!

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  11. Raul, I have other question. How is the process of writing a sequel? do you find it easier or more challenging?

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  12. I wanted my sequel to be a standalone book. So deciding how to integrate information from the previous book without being clunky was a real challenge. I did not want one of those "Previously on West Wing" type of openings. Beyond that, I pretty much knew where I wanted the plot to go and how the characters would develop. So after the transition, the challenges became the same as any other novel ... which are always considerable.

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  13. Your book sounds great, I read great reviews from readers on Amazon. Immigration is such a delicate topic, any negative reactions during the publishing of this book and even now? How was it growing up and learning english as a second language here in the US?

    Looking forward to reading your book!
    Marcela

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  14. Hi Silvia! You have some great Latino authors on your site! It would be awesome to start a blog book club! Im sure your readers would love for you to pick a book( latino inspired) for all of us to read and then come back to your site to discuss.... just a thought... but had to get it out ( :

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  15. Yes, Marcela, I've had a number of very negative reactions to my book. Not surprisingly, many have come from supremacists who actually WANT to see an ethnic conflict of the type portrayed in AMERICA LIBRE. You'll find just a sample of these reactions at my author's site here:
    http://raulramos.com/A_Forum_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm

    I was seven when I came to the U.S. from Cuba. At that age, kids pick up a language like a sponge. I had no accent at all by the time I was nine. That's why I feel we should teach kids foreign languages in elementary school, not high school.

    I hope you enjoy AMERICA LIBRE, Marcela. When you've read it, please drop me a line at my author's site and let me know what you think.

    www.RaulRamos.com

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  16. Wow! I really like the My Immigration Story site. I had not seen that before. What a great resource.

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  17. thanks Marcela, I will consider your idea, I just love books and I can't help to host authors and review books and share with all of you, thanks for comment

    Mrs. V I thought so too! I loved the page!

    Thank you all for stopping by to my blog and for supporting our latino authors.

    Thanks Raul for sharing your book with us today, I wish you the best!

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  18. Sorry I'm late. I thought I was going to have to write my comment in Spanish. NOT! i'm a pochoa. Thank you so much Silva for particpating in this book tour and for hosting this wonderful author Raul. Isn't he gorgeous!!! ha ha Thank you so much for all the work and time you put into this.
    Jo Ann Hernandez
    BronzeWord Latino Authors
    http://authorslatino.com/wordpress

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  19. What a great post! I love the excerpt from the bio, it's got a very cinematic feel!

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  20. Raul, wow. What a story--both your own and the novel. Must be told. Onward and upward! Silvia, hats off to a wonderful blog!
    Sylvia Mendoza
    Nunca Sola

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  21. Hi Jo Ann, thanks for stopping by.

    Hello Nilki, I love that part from his web page too!

    Welcome Sylvia, thanks for your kind words.

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