Selena Laurence, author of the novellas "Camouflaged" and "Concealed," was groomed by Latino culture, although she herself isn't Latina. Born in Texas, a state with a Hispanic population twice the national average, Laurence grew up in the heart of Latino immigration, language, food and influence. And her father's ownership of a Mexican restaurant, her godparents' fluency in Spanish and her instinct toward reading bilingual texts showed that she was marked by her surroundings.

When the author was 6-years-old, she and her family moved to New Mexico, where Latino culture was even more pronounced. The lines between "Latino" and "non-Latino" were often blurred by the abundance of Hispanic students and teachers. While she comes from "typical Anglo Midwestern stock," her family friends were a parade of cultural diversity, and Spanglish was common place in her life. She ultimately saw herself as a hybrid and sees her culture is "its own unique thing."

The southern Hispanic-adjacent experience stayed closed with Laurence as she gained her degree in English literature, moved into technical writing and began writing romance novels, often placing Latinos in the role of hero and heroine as they are cast against southern Texas backdrop.

"I think the simple fact that I often write stories with strong Hispanic characters set in the American southwest is a testament to my own history and culture," Laurence stated to Latin Post during an interview. "You do write what you know in the most basic sense, and I know two cultures, Latino and Anglo, so I tend to have characters that are from both of those. I work to make my Latino characters as authentic as possible, while not 'typecasting' them."

Laurence wrote a story that included a protagonist with a very large Latino family, pressing her to live a certain lifestyle with a Latino boyfriend even though she was in love with an Anglo. And she's written a character that's had to deal with the aftermath of his mother's deportation. She explores Latino themes, but many of her characters are just like any other characters.

"They go to college, have jobs, fall in love, deal with families, commit crimes, and eat breakfast, whatever. They're people like any others," she said. First and foremost, she writes her characters as human beings finding their way in the world, and finding their soulmate.

"I think in a lot of ways I'm most proud of my two Hispanic fiction novels. ... I feel like the effort necessary to portray a character of another culture genuinely, without being superficial and trite, is pretty significant. You do the best you can, but it's a little scary putting it out there," Laurence said. "After I wrote 'Concealed,' which hit No. 1 in the Hispanic fiction category on Amazon [and] No. 4 in Multicultural Romances, I got emails and reviews from Hispanic readers who said I'd done a great job portraying families like theirs and issues they've really dealt with. It felt genuine to them. That means more to me as a writer than just about anything -- when a reader says, 'You got it right.' That's harder to do, in my opinion, when you're dealing with a culture that isn't yours by birth."

Rudolfo Anaya and Gabriel Garcia Marquez were favorites when Laurence was in school, and more recently, she's enjoyed the works of Julia Alvarez and Isabel Allende, "who write beautiful stories." An Anglo writer who she looks to for crafting strong Latino characters and storylines is John Nichols, author of "The Milagro Beanfield War," who has a "really insightful and heartwarming take on Northern New Mexico" and a deep love for New Mexico and Latino culture.

Laurence shared that one of the most interesting things about American Latino literature is that the best Latino fiction seems to be coming from women, which she adores. In her opinion, female Latino writers write accessible stories about families and everyday life. They discuss the basics, but it becomes inherently cultural and different than experiences posed in the mainstream.

"When it's Latino women writing, all of those things are seen through their cultural lens, and that makes for fascinating stories that are true to life," Laurence said. "We want to see a wide range of Latino themes, characters and stories in all sorts of books because it signals the inclusion of Latinos and their culture into real life."

Laurence now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and works as a full-time romance author and a full-time mother. If you're interested in learning more about the bestselling author, you can find her on Facebook, on Twitter and at selenalaurence.com 

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