Surviving Santiago (34 page)

After the closing of Curbstone Press at the end of 2009, Ellen Geiger of Frances Goldin Literary Agency took me on and stood by me through rounds of rewrites. My breakthrough revision occurred as a result of my second semester workshop at Vermont College of Fine Arts, led by Jane Kurtz and Rita Williams-Garcia. Jane became my advisor and shepherded me through the rewrite of my first two chapters. Another student in the workshop, Cori McCarthy, read the full draft and connected me with the editor of her powerful and original debut novel (which she also submitted to our VCFA workshop),
The Color of Rain
.

That editor was Lisa Cheng of Running Press Kids,
and I cannot thank her enough for giving my unusual story—and me—a publishing home where I feel part of a family. I am so thrilled to be working with her talented team that includes my VCFA classmate Val Howlett, designer/illustrator Teresa Bonaddio, and copy editor Susan Hom. The sales and marketing team at Perseus Books Group remembered me from Curbstone Press and
Gringolandia
, and I appreciate their enthusiasm and support. I really do feel that this is my homecoming.

I thank the beta readers and members of my various critique groups over the years: Elizabeth Janicek, Beverly Slapin, Gene Damm, Brett Hartman, Lynn Jerabek, Laura Kinney, Mary Nicotera, Lisa Rubilar, Linda Elovitz Marshall, Deb Picker, Anita Sanchez, Kate Hosford, Shelley Saposnik, Heather Strickland, and Kathleen Wilson. I also thank Barbara Seuling and the other members of her summer 2009 Novel Revision workshop for guiding me to my story's ending. As with
Gringolandia
, Mario Nelson helped me with the Chilean
castellano
and kept me up to date on ongoing investigations into the human rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship.

In the Author's Note I recognize the Chileans who helped me with my research and shared their stories with me. On this page, I'd like to thank all the readers of
Gringolandia
, who came to love the Aguilar family as much as I do and who wanted to know what happened to Tina and her father. In the twenty years it took for me to write
Gringolandia
, I never thought I would write a companion. I appreciate above all else the opportunity to revisit the lives and world of my fictional family and to remember the courage and generosity of the real people who were their inspiration.