Names I Call My Sister

Mary Castillo attenteded the University of Southern California, where she majored in History. During that time she went on medical missions to Mexico (where she helped deliver a baby), and interned at L.A. County Hospital. But when it was time to choose a career, Mary went back to her original love of storytelling and began writing screenplays and novels. She has worked in public relations, advertising, and as a reporter for the L.A. Times Community News. She lives in Orange County, California, with her family.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Berta Platas has four kids, three-fourths of them are boys. She has lived in Miami, Pittsburgh, New York, Charlotte, and Atlanta, in that order, and is currently living just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Despite her success, she still works at a fun day job in marketing.

Sofia Quintero is also the author of Divas Don’t Yield and the co-founder of Chica Luna Productions in New York City. She also writes hip-hop fiction under the name pen name Black Artemis.

Lynda Sandoval is a former police officer and the author of twenty award-winning books. She writes young adult novels as well as women's fiction, romance, and nonfiction for five different publishers, all while working part-time as a 9-1-1 fire/medical dispatcher. Her work has appeared on the Waldenbooks Romance Bestsellers' list and has won numerous national awards, including a Colorado Book Award nomination for Best Young Adult Literature and a National Reader's Choice Award, also in the YA category. Lynda's teen novels have twice been nominated as ALA Quick Picks for Young Adult Readers, and her 2004 release, Who's Your Daddy? was named to the New York Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age" list. Unsettling, Lynda's 2004 release, won the 2005 Laurie Best of the Best Published Award, as well as several other honors. Lynda has been profiled in People en Espanol, Writer's Digest, Romantic Times, Catalina, Latina, The Denver Post, and many other publications.