HOUSTON, TX October 2015— Diane Gonzales Bertrand’s bilingual collection of short stories for teens, There’s a Name for This Feeling: Stories / Hay un nombre para lo que siento: Cuentos, has been named the Middle Grade/Young Adult Discovery Prize Winner in the 2014 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards. Established in 1991, the awards recognize the year’s outstanding books published by Texas authors.
Bertrand’s short and accessible contemporary stories are alternately amusing and poignant as they explore issues relevant to today’s youth. In the title story, Lucinda hatches a clever plan to get her boyfriend back and is crushed when she ultimately realizes that it’s impossible to force a guy to love you. Like all young people, she ignores the advice of her mom and learns that lesson—and many more—the hard way.
In these short stories for young people, kids deal with both serious and humorous consequences after they ignore their parents’ suggestions and disobey rules. At a friend’s house on New Year’s Eve, Raymond plays with fireworks even though he promised his parents he wouldn’t. Kids on a track team search for a mysterious naked woman with embarrassing results. And two girls in a wax museum are in for a surprise when they ignore the signs about touching the figures.
Teens deal with everything from grandparents suffering from dementia to difficult customers at a first job. And in one story, a young girl grieves the loss of her baby, a miscarriage her mom calls a “blessing.” These stories highlight the emotional tailspins of living in a complicated world.
DIANE GONZALES BERTRAND is the author of several books for young adults. They include There’s a Name for This Feeling / Hay un nombre para lo que siento (Piñata Books, 2014), The F Factor (Piñata Books, 2010), Close to the Heart (2002), Trino’s Time (2001), Trino’s Choice (1999), Lessons of the Game (1998), and Sweet Fifteen (1995). A lifelong resident of San Antonio, Bertrand teaches at St. Mary’s University, where she is also Writer in Residence.
With over 1,200 members statewide and growing, the Writers’ League of Texas is a vibrant community that serves to educate and uplift Texas writers and offers valuable service to communities across the state with free programming in libraries and local schools.
Arte Público Press is the nation’s largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by U.S. Hispanic authors. Its imprint for children and young adults, Piñata Books, is dedicated to the realistic and authentic portrayal of the themes, languages, characters, and customs of Hispanic culture in the United States. Based at the University of Houston, Arte Público Press, Piñata Books and the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage project provide the most widely recognized and extensive showcase for Hispanic literary arts and creativity.