BORDER-LINE PERSONALITIES:
A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass & Cultural Shifting
(HarperCollins Publishers; In stores July 6, 2004)

This enlightening and inspiring book details the modern day Latina experience told through several well-known Latina voices, and is available at your local Barnes & Noble and on amazon.com. Stay tuned for news on the book reading/signing event coming to your city soon. Enjoy, spread the word, and please continue to support talent!

Do we have to speak Spanish and have kids? Can we still be spiritual without stepping foot in a church? Can we pursue careers, date gringos, live with boyfriends, flirt with alternative lifestyles, and still hold on to our family's values? Do we have to like spicy food and salsa music? Can we really relate to Jennifer Lopez? These are a few of the questions facing today's modern day Latinas. Members of the post-feminism generation and the majority minority, young Hispanic-American women live on the border between their cultural heritage and mainstream, white society. And that fact of life brings demeaning stereotypes, stifling traditions, and ongoing identity conflicts. Why, in the minds of most Americans, are Latinas still thought of as maids, seductresses, and booty-shaking salsa divas? Never has the concept of Latina identity been more relevant. Also, never has there been a new generation of Latinas so ready to say what they mean and even criticize the Latina generation that preceded them. Until now.

Inspired by the realities Latinas face, Robyn Moreno and Michelle Herrera Mulligan compiled and co-edited an exciting and enticing collection of essays entitled BORDER-LINE PERSONALITIES: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass & Cultural Shifting (HarperCollins Publishers; July 2004). For every woman intimate with the turmoil and frustrations that come with being Latina˜even if she chooses to speak English only, practice Buddhism, and stick to an American diet of hamburgers and hard rock, BORDER-LINE PERSONALITIES offers welcome words of empathy and self-affirming reassurance.

"These wise, funny, very smart, and passionate young women are speaking up." Yes, these mujeres are rethinking that word, "border and redrawing the lines." 
-- Julia Alvarez, best selling author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

In BORDER-LINE PERSONALITIES twenty smart and remarkably talented young Latina writers reflect on their relationships with family, their lifestyle and career choices, their sense of self, and the challenges of everyday life. They share their poignant and wickedly funny stories about fighting with their mothers, struggling with speaking Spanish, and dealing with the men who've done them wrong, among a myriad of other topics. This amazing collection of essays stands out for its contributors alone: CNN's Maria Hinojosa, journalists Laura Trujillo and Lorenza Munoz, actress Jackie Guerra, and novelists Lynda Sandoval and Angie Cruz, among them, not to mention the glowing foreword from Julia Alvarez. In the end, each essay encompasses a different point of view, lending credence to the theory that no one can label any one item, idea, or person more Latina than the other.

Moreno, a writer and editor, is a former editor at InStyle and Latina magazines. She has written for Woman's Day and Glamour, among other publications, and coauthored Suave: The Latin Male (Universe 2001). Herrera Mulligan, a freelance writer, has published articles in Time, Publishers Weekly, and Teen People, among many magazines. She was an associate articles editor at Latina and coordinated a special issue of Time Latin America focusing on young Mexican leaders.

Media Contact: Daisy Cabrera, 718-937-7379 | daisycabrera@hotmail.com