Saritza Hernández

ADULT BOOK CLUB FICTION: PEN/Faulkner Award-longlisted co-authors Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt's HOW TO FAKE A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN, the authors' adult debut, pitched as a gender-swapped contemporary reimagining of My Fair Lady in the vein of Abby Jimenez, Alison Espach, and Yulin Kuang, in which a Latina journalist teams up with the events manager at Atlanta's most exclusive country club to transform a pool hustler into a Southern gentleman so they can take down a villainous tycoon who is trying to gentrify their city and ruin their lives; and ¡SOL!, pitched as a retelling of the classic film Sabrina for fans of Kevin Kwan, Abby Jimenez, and Christina Lauren, set on a majestic ranch in Jackson Hole, where the caretaker's daughter, a Puerto Rican teen, fell for the younger son in a family of billionaires, but, returning after years of travel through Latin America, finds herself at odds with his duty-minded older brother, who is also falling for her, exploring intersections of class, privilege, and nature, to Yezanira Venecia at Primero Sueno, in separate good deals, for publication in 2026 and 2027.

ILLUSTRATOR: Author of the forthcoming ABA Indies Introduce pick THE QUEEN BEES OF TYBEE COUNTY Kyle Casey Chu and LGBTQ+ historian Andrew W. Shaffer's WHAT KIND OF QUEEN?: A ROYAL BIOGRAPHY OF JOSE SARRIA, celebrating the pioneering Latine political activist, drag queen, and first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the U.S., who paved the way for Harvey Milk, among others, illustrated by Cindy Lozito, to Sara Sproull at Abrams Children's, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2026.

ADULT NF: Coauthor of WELCOME TO DRAGON TALK and cohost of Dragon Talk, the official Dungeons & Dragons podcast Shelly Mazzanoble's HOW TO DUNGEON MASTER PARENTING: A GUIDEBOOK FOR GAMIFYING THE CHILD REARING QUEST, LEVELING UP YOUR SKILLS, AND RAISING FUTURE ADVENTURERS, pitched as for the gamer, fantasy-loving parent, or parent-to-be ready to master the role of a lifetime, to University of Iowa Press, for publication in fall 2024.

PB: PEN/Faulkner Award-longlisted author and Latinx Kidlit Book Festival cofounder Mayra Cuevas's WE'RE GOING ON A PARRANDA!, a bilingual picture book about the Puerto Rican Christmas caroling tradition of the parranda as a child travels with family and friends trying to discover their own unique rhythm, illustrated by Monica Paola Rodriguez, to Paula Wiseman Books, for publication in fall 2025.

PB: Angela Quezada Padron's FROM THE FIELDS TO THE FIGHT: THE STORY OF LABOR ACTIVIST JESSICA GOVEA THORBOURNE, a biography of the Latina labor activist whose family worked alongside Cesar Chavez to bring attention to the plight of migrant farmworkers and whose role in the California Grape Boycott was pivotal in its success, illustrated by Sol Salinas, to Atheneum, with Kristie Choi editing, in a nice deal, for publication in 2026.

PB: PEN/Faulkner Award-longlisted coauthor of DOES MY BODY OFFEND YOU? Mayra Cuevas's MY ABUELA IS A BRUJA, about the magical relationship between a young girl and her abuela on her grandmother's finca in Puerto Rico, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gomez, to Knopf Children's, in a very nice deal, at auction.

ADULT SF: Queer author-illustrator Venessa Vida Kelley's WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON, pitched as The Shape of Water meets The Greatest Showman, in which an Afro-Boricua migrant in 1911 is pressed to kidnap and care for an ocean-eyed merman on display at a Coney Island sideshow, but when he falls in love with the merman in the tank, he must reckon with the forces that have held him captive and realize there's more than one way to be trapped, to Erewhon.

PB: Author-illustrator Diana Castillo's debut SNAP! CRUNCH! MUNCH!, an early reader inspired by her Cuban immigrant family's experiences, to Holiday House.

GN: Author-illustrator Venessa V. Kelley's debut MANU FACES THE MUSIC, in which a young queer Puerto Rican woman at the height of a lucrative music career learns she is the last in a line of powerful mediums capable of channeling vast spiritual energy and must use her power to defend the NYC community she left behind from a dark threat to Oni Press.

YA: Louangie Bou-Montes's debut TILL THE LAST BEAT OF MY HEART, pitched as CEMETERY BOYS meets UNDEAD GIRL GANG, in which the 16-year-old, Afro-Latinx son of the local mortician accidentally reanimates the dead body of the boy he had more than friendly feelings for and has to uncover the truth about his family's necromantic abilities to keep him alive for good, to Harper Children's.

ILLUSTRATOR: MzVee's NATURAL ME, a celebration of self-love and beauty, inside and out, inspired by the author's song Natural Girl, illustrated by Lisbeth Checo, to Clarion.