Colato Laínez chosen as May 2011’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Colato Laínez for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author: RENÉ COLATO LAÍNEZ came to the United States from El Salvador as a teen, and he writes about his experiences in bilingual children’s books such as Waiting for Papá / Esperando a Papá (Piñata Books, 2004), I Am René, the Boy / Soy René, el niño (2005) and René Has Two Last Names / René tiene dos apellidos (2009). He is also the author of Playing Lotería / El juego de la lotería (Luna Rising, 2005), My Shoes and I (Boyds Mills …

Saldaña, Jr. chosen as May 2009’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Saldaña, Jr. for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author: RENÉ SALDAÑA, JR. is the author of several acclaimed books for children and young adults. He lives in Lubbock, Texas, where he teaches in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. The Case of the Pen Gone Missing / El caso de la pluma perdida (2009) is the first book in the bilingual Mickey Rangel Mystery series. About his latest book, The Case of the Pen Gone Missing / El caso de la pluma perdida: When Toots Rodríguez approaches Mickey on the …

Villareal chosen as August 2008’s “Author of the Month” on Houston Public Media Houston Public Media radio host Eric Ladau interviewed Ray Villareal for its website’s “Arte Público Press Author of the Month” feature, and along with the transcript, their conversation is available to listeners on the station’s interactive site through on-demand audio streaming here. Click here to see all Arte Público authors featured on Houston Public Media. About the Author: RAY VILLAREAL is the author of two novels for young adults that capture the angst of adolescent life: Alamo Wars (Piñata Books, 2008), and My Father, the Angel of Death (Piñata Books, 2006), which was nominated to the 2008-2009 Lone Star Reading List and named to The New York Public Library’s 2007 Books for the Teen Age. Villareal worked for 30 years as a teacher and an instructional reading coach with the Dallas Independent School District, and his knowledge of kids is obvious in his …