A writer. An activist. An educator. A comedienne. The author of works of contemporary fiction like THE MORE THINGS CHANGE and DIVAS DON’T YIELD is also known to readers as “Black Artemis”, the author of several novels of “Feminist Hip-Hop Noir”, including PICTURE ME ROLLIN’. This self-proclaimed “Ivy-League homegirl” graduated from Columbia University with a BA in history-sociology and an MPA from its School of International and Public Affairs, then started a career as a policy analyst and advocate, and worked for various nonprofit organizations and government agencies including the Vera Institute of Justice, Hispanic AIDS Forum, and the New York City Independent Budget Office. All this, and a YA novel too. Sofia Quintero is not playing around.
With her YA debut, EFRAIN’S SECRET (KNOPF, 2010), Ms. Quintero tells the poignant and powerful story of Efrain Rodriguez, a South Bronx honor student who is desperate to realize his dream of going to an Ivy League college — and does something he’d never imagined he’d do as a result. Publishers Weekly, in a starred review (one of several), called EFRAIN’S SECRET “…an in-your-face YA debut, a passionate polemic on racial politics in urban America.” In an interview with She Writes, Ms. Quintero notes that “…writing for young people has actually made me a better craftsperson. The limitations, length, language, etc. forced me to be more imaginative.”
Ms. Quintero describes herself and her work as “unapologetically feminist”, and as such, made deliberate choices when writing EFRAIN’S SECRET. From She Writes: “I have come to believe that part of the feminist movement must include reenvisioning masculinity for boys and men, and my particular concern is with boys of color and working-class boys. Our society tells boys of a certain socioeconomic background, ‘These are the things that make a man,’ only to use racism and classism to block those paths to manhood.”
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But wait, there’s more.
From her bio: “Sofia co-founded Chica Luna Productions to identify, develop and support other women of color seeking to make socially conscious entertainment. Among other projects, Chica Luna launched The F-Word and the Popular Media Justice Tookit. The F-Word is a comprehensive filmmaking institute for women of color based in East Harlem in New York City while the Toolkit is a collection of resources that deconstructs images of women of color in popular films from SET IT OFF to I LIKE IT LIKE THAT.
Sofia is also a social entrepreneur and cultural activist devoted to elevating the quality of entertainment both through her personal initiatives and business ventures. With her business partner Elisha Miranda, she founded Sister Outsider Entertainment, a multimedia production company that is developing several projects for television, film and stage including the upcoming Internet series SANGRIA STREET. SOE also co-created CONSCIOUS WOMEN ROCK THE PAGE with Marcella Runell Hall and Jennifer Jlove Calderon. CONSCIOUS WOMEN is a cutting-edge multidisciplinary curriculum that enables socially conscious educators to introduce feminist hip hop fiction into their learning environments and use it to incite social change among their students.”
We can’t wait to see what’s next!
For more from Sofia Quintero on EFRAIN’S SECRET, check out this interview at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy.