International Award-Winning Author to Speak at LULAC Convention

EMMA GONZÁLEZ

International Award-Winning Author to Speak at LULAC Convention

By Ramón Hernández

Emma González, an international award-winning author who lives in Edinburg, Texas, is one of three speakers that have been chosen to participate in a panel at this this year’s LULAC State Convention.

      Dr. Juan Tejeda, a professor at Palo Alto College, and Dr. Emilio Zamora are the other two panelists.

      As a child, she grew up in Ovid, Colorado while her migrant family toiled in the sugar beet fields. As an adult, she was inspired by Saint Mother Teresa into writing and publishing her first book “Field Mice: Memoirs of a Migrant Child” and “Field Mice: Memoirs of a Migrant Child Children’s Edition” in 2015, based on her true-life experiences as a migrant child during ten tumultuous years with her migrant parents in the 1950s and ‘60s.

     She may have waited until later in life before deciding to write, but the innate writing skills were there. The result is that both books won awards in September 2017 at the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA), known as the Academy Awards of Latino Literature and Culture in Los Angeles, chaired by Edward James Olmos. “Field Mice: Memoirs of a Migrant Child” won Most Inspirational Non-fiction Adult Novel, and the Children’s Edition won Most Inspirational Non-fiction Youth Book.

     This was Emma’s first submission to the ILBA as a first-time author. Latino authors from the U.S. and 20 Latino countries were represented in the competition.

     Aside from prestigious awards, when Little Joe read her book, he told her, “There were parts that made me cry. Then, I’d find myself laughing in the next chapter. It especially hit a chord in my heart because it was in part, like reading my own story.”

     Since then, her works have been selected by The Monitor’s Festiva Creative Writing and River Sedge: A Journal of Art & Literature published by University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, in Edinburg, Texas. She is also the 2017 “Literacy Champion” recipient, an award from South Texas Literacy Collation for her work conducting writing workshops to high school migrant students.

     González shares her life’s story with migrant students to motivate them to stay in school, to reach for the stars, and she conducts writing workshops “to help them find their voice and write their story.” For migrant parents, she offers heart felt advice from her experiences.

      González, who graduated from Edinburg High in 1972 and attended UT Pan Am, majored in Criminal Justice and ventured into successful business entrepreneurships hence touts the importance of education

      On the personal side, she lives with her supportive husband of 45 years and is close to her beloved children & grandchildren. She travels to distant places she once only read about as an isolated migrant child.

          In her sequel, “Paths of Pearls: After the Migrant Years,” Emma writes about her life when her parents finally settle in Edinburg. At the age of 15, her struggles continue after the migrant years have decimated her family and forced her to shoulder the financial burdens after her father’s death, to support her mother and herself, and fights to pursue her education and happiness. Plus, how she drew strength from her past to survive this new, unsettling life.

     This book is due for publication this year.  Ergo, González has embarked on a successful writing career. Her next tentative project is chronicling Little Joe’s early life in the fields.

     Meanwhile, she is on a book reading tour, but will take time off to make an appearance at this year’s LULAC State Convention at the Tropicana Hotel on Friday, June 1.

     To buy Emma’s book, just go to Amazon.com and search for “Field Mice” by Emma González.