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Letter to the editor

Caridad Ferrer takes readers beyond 'chick lit'

Women identify most readily with the author's stories and female protagonists, but her novels are for anyone who likes a good story.

By Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer
Published October 25, 2007

The Many Faces of Chick Llit

Caridad Ferrer (It's Not About the Accent), Kristin Harmel (The Blonde Theory), Kimberly Llewellyn (The Quest for the Holy Veil) and Jane Porter (Odd Mom Out) will discuss their books and writing for female readers at the Times Festival of Reading at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Campus Activities Center.

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These days, Caridad Ferrer's official title is "author."

But she's also a longtime musician with a teaching degree. She's a Manhattan-born Cuban-American who grew up in Miami, studied in Tallahassee and loved living in frigid Cleveland.

Most important for readers, Ferrer is a married mother of two school-aged children who manages to write in the voice of a college freshman trying to reinvent herself.

Her second book, It's Not About the Accent, follows college-bound Caroline Darcy as she leaves small-town Ohio and takes on the persona of her glamorous Cuban great-grandmother.

The St. Petersburg Times chatted recently with Ferrer, who lives in Jacksonville with her husband and children.

This is your second book. Do you have a favorite so far?

The first one (Adios to My Old Life) I loved because it speaks so much to my musical background. I call it the little book that could. I kept putting it out there, and it kept winning awards. . . . This latest one, I got to delve into the Cuban history and immigration, and I got to weave it into some personal history.

How much of you is in this book?

Little bits, things that add flavor. Caroline talks about her grandmother coming from an uber, uber wealthy family. Way, way back my family was one of those wealthy families. They owned a factory in Cuba. My mom tells me about going into her grandmother's house in Havana with marble floors and a Francisco Goya on the wall.

When did you start writing?

I'm one of those who has always had a journal. When I went to college in Tallahassee, on the drive along that boring turnpike, I'd entertain myself by coming up with stories.

You talk often about how you love music, and you've played everything from the piano to the French horn. How does music influence your work?

It's part of everything I do. A song or melody can inspire an entire story idea. I create soundtracks for all of my books. I become like Pavlov's dog, but without the drooling: I put that music on and then I'm just in it.

Do you think of your books as part of the "chick lit" genre?

"Chick lit" has become such a catch-all term, like a uniform term for anyone writing in the first person. I mean, I don't have anyone shopping or brand name references. So, not really.

Do you think there's an increasing appreciation of Hispanic culture today, and does that help your work hit a chord with readers?

That certainly has something to do with it. But I think really there's something that touches a very mainstream chord in what I write. I get letters from adults saying, "I read about this 18-year-old girl, and she was me!" Then I get the text messages from teenagers: "U Rite GR8 Books."

So who's your audience?

Primarily they're written for a female audience, but they're for anybody who likes a good story.

What's next for Caridad Ferrer? Another book? An album?

I just finished another manuscript for another young adult book. It's a contemporary retelling of the Carmen story. My Carmen is a dancer, and my Don Jose is a talented music prodigy. My Escamillo, my bullfighter, is a very fun, flamboyant Spanish soccer player.

What are you reading now?

I just bought (director and composer) Robby Benson's new one, Who Stole the Funny? And going into my geek mode, I've got Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight.

Okay, so I can't end this without asking: What's the last song you listened to?

I was just listening to the new single by Incubus. And I've been listening on practically a repeat mode to the new KT Tunstall release. It is really good.

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3403 or svansickler@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 24, 2007, 19:36:07]