Rene' Colato Lainez

I met Rene Colato Lainez years ago in a chlidren's writing class. Sweet and kind, we all cheered when Rene sold his first book and then the next two. It is my great pleasure to interview my buddy Rene Colato Lainez.

When and why did you start writing for children?

I loved to read and write books as a child. When I was eight years, I decided that I wanted to write a book. Since then, I wrote poems and short stories.

When I was fifteen years old, I wrote my first novel Lucia. I wrote six more novels by the time, I graduated from College. My goal was to revise these novels and send them for publication. But destiny had other plans for me. I became a teacher. I still remember the first day in my classroom where I was surrounded by beautiful and colorful picture books. It was there, that I decided to write picture books for children.

What is the most valuable advice you can give to a newly published writer?

Congratulations publishing a book is a great accomplishment! Now it is time to promote your book. Get a website, a blog, send emails to all your friends and write your good news everywhere you can. The internet is a great tool for writers. Also visit your local public libraries and bookstores and don’t forget to bring a copy of your book.

What is one of your favorite children’s books that you'd like to recommend?

This is a hard question. I love all my books and it is hard to pick just one. I am the author of three bilingual books: Waiting for Papá/ Esperando a Papá, I Am René, the Boy/ Soy René, the niño and Playing Lotería/ El juego de la lotería. For this interview, I will recommend I Am René, the Boy. This book is based in my own immigrant experience. In Latin America, René is a name for boys. It was a surprise for me when my teacher in my new school in Los Angeles called roll and said Rene. I was ready to answer but I girl stood up and said, “I am Renee.” I was paralyzed and my mouth dropped. Hey, I wanted to say, “I am René, the Boy.” But I did not speak English yet. Later, I wrote this experience in a children’s book manuscript and it became my second picture book. René is coming next year, 2009, in a new adventure: René Has Two Last Names/ René tiene dos apellidos.

What are you working on now?

Now I am in the editing process on various manuscripts with my editors. HarperCollins will publish a series that will be great for boys. I am translating René Has Two Last Names and giving the final touch to my book My Shoes and I. Don’t forget to check out these books in 2009.

What is your favorite dessert and why?

My favorite dessert is flan, specially the flan with the caramel on top that I used to eat in El Salvador. Every time, I taste this flan, I fly to the house where I grew up and relive all my children’s memories.

BIO: René Colato Laínez, the Salvadoran award winning author of I Am René, the Boy/ Soy René, el niño, Waiting for Papá/ Esperando a Papá, and Playing Lotería/ El juego de la lotería. His picture books have been honored by the Latino Book Award, the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the California Collection for Elementary Readers, the Tejas Star Book Award Selection and the New Mexico Book Award. He was named “Top Ten New Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)” by latinostories.com. He is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults.

His goal as a writer is to produce good multicultural children's literature; stories where minority children are portrayed in a positive way, where they can see themselves as heroes, and where they can dream and have hopes for the future. I want to write authentic stories of Latin American children living in the United States.