By snoadmin
Maria Amparo Escandon came to Cal State Long Beach Tuesday to speak to a mixture of students and fans who wanted to hear her speak about her second novel “Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.”
Escandon wore a black sleeveless dress and a red shawl, with her black curly hair hung about her head, as she spoke in an elegant Spanish accent about her education in Mexico. She was born in Mexico City and earned mass communication degree. But she didn’t stay in Mexico. She and her boyfriend left.
“We eloped because we couldn’t be together [in Mexico], so we came here and established ourselves,” Escandon said. “I started teaching at UCLA in ’93 but I’ve always been teaching creative writing.”
When talking about her writing, Escandon said her work came out of her innermost fears.
“I never look outside my own topic like in the news, so I go in myself and tackle the issues and confront it,” she said.
Her first book, “Esperanza’s Box of Saints,” has been translated into 21 languages and read in 92 countries. She also turned the book into a screenplay titled “Santitos,” which was produced by John Sayle and directed by Alejandro Springall. It was released in Mexico and it was the third-highest grossing film in Latin America in 2000. The film has garnered 14 awards.
The first book, “Esperanza’s Box of Saints,” is about a mother who believes that her child isn’t dead, but in fact she was kidnapped. The mother decides to go undercover as a prostitute to find her child.
Her second book, “Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.,” which is not connected to the first book, is about a daughter and father and a crime the daughter committed. Before the discussion ended, students were able to ask questions about writing, publishing and finding an agent.
Because her first book had so much success, being translated into several languages and into a movie, she was worried about her second book.
“When I wrote the second book I was frozen. I went to a writer’s therapist, [who] only saw writers. He was able to sort out what I was afraid of and I was able to write it and get as much as success as the first one,” Escandon said.
For her second book, she did research in the field by going into prisons to talk to the women and also traveled with truck drivers.
“During my research I had to research prison [life] and the women were so nice and helpful. I wanted to help them by creating a book club, giving back in a way where authors would come and visit them and discuss the book and donate {time} and talk to the authors,” Escandon said.
Maricela Becerra, a sophomore political science, Chicano studies and Spanish literature major, said, “I just like her. she has something. It’s hard to explain.”
