Bel Canto Books hosted a book signing and Q-and-A on Sunday at the Golden Garden in Long Beach to celebrate women’s history month.
There, they discussed the works of authors Diana Giovinazzo and Natalie Obando while stressing the importance of unity and support between women and people of color within the publishing business.
Giovinazzo spoke of her experience writing ‘Antoinette’s Sister’, saying that, “Even though women carry forward the publishing industry, it is still women of color that are grossly underestimated and underrepresented. I feel it’s our duty to be able to open those doors and help those women make their mark.”
As an Italian woman, having a platform to shine light on these women who might otherwise be lost to history means a lot to Giovinazzo and other people within her culture that she has spoken with.
“It’s very important to me to be able to represent my culture in this positive way and say, ‘hey we have these strong women too’,” Giovinazzo said.
Obando commented on Giovinazzo’s book, saying “What I love about Diana’s book is that it really is about how we as women support each other so much in everything we do. Honestly, I think some of the most successful authors that I have known are successful because of the community of women that are around them.”
Giovinazzo refers to the adage ‘write what you know’, saying that “(people) take it at face value. When it comes down to it, ‘write what you know’ should be about writing about people, writing about their struggles, the complicated mother-daughter relationships, the sister relationships, the love affairs that have gone wrong.”
Giovinazzo offers advice to any aspiring authors, “Read everything, from the back of shampoo bottles to the greats, read everything. It’s very necessary, because I feel like the best way to learn how to write is by reading to see how others have structured a book, how to structure the style of the story, and it is through reading that you are able to do that.”
Obando is the founder of the grassroots organization ‘Women of Color Writers’ and the head of the Women’s National Book Association.
Women of Color Writers is a master class for the publishing business, where you get connected with agents and editing mentors, get published in the anthology ‘Authentic Voices’, and build up a network of support for your career. Something Obando says is “typically the hardest part for BIPOC and marginalized communities in publishing.”
Obando said she “realized that for a lot of first generation (immigrant) communities, creativity is not an option in terms of making it a way of making a living.”
“Having been to writers’ groups or having been part of book groups, I realized that the immigrant and the person of color experience wasn’t echoed in those groups. I wanted to create something which originally was a podcast, to bring our stories and resources that can help our communities,” Obando said.
Some of Obando’s inspiration for these achievements lies with the advice her grandma offered, “the only way you make change is from the inside out.” Obando has been working in publishing for 15 years doing just that.
Now, Obando offers her own advice to any woman hoping to be successful in any part of the publishing business.
Natalie Obando, head of the National Women’s Book Association and author/organizer of “Authentic Voices Anthology” poses during a book signing event for women’s history month on March 13th, 2022 in Long Beach, CA. Photo by Dylan Kurz
“The writing community is a very small community and authors remember who you are. I think that people start to think about doing book reviews and stuff like that once they become an author, but they should be doing that ahead of time, making those connections ahead of time,” Obando said.
“What you want to do is create a community around you to support you in your writing endeavors. Join organizations like MNBA where you have the support of women who have worked in publishing, or in selling books, or in editing, or whatever it may be,” Obando said.