Tracy López

About Me

Born and raised in a middle class Maryland suburb not far from the nation's capital, and enjoyed a fairly normal American childhood. Now married with 2 sons and living in a more affordable city slightly outside the D.C. Metro area. (My husband's blue collar job and my writing don't bring in the same money as my parents did apparently.)

My husband is from El Salvador and his childhood was decidedly different from mine. I survived chasing the ice cream truck through my neighborhood, bare feet against hot asphalt, coins stolen from my father's briefcase in my sweaty little hand. My husband survived a civil war, gunfire, helicopters overhead, walking to school and passing bloody bodies in the street.

Besides reading and writing, I spend my days raising our boys in our bilingual and bicultural home - This mix of cultures and languages has shaped me in a way that I try to put into words daily. It may take a lifetime to explain how challenging and yet perfectly beautiful it all is.

Why do you write?

I write because I can't imagine not writing.

Any favorite authors? Books?

The Tortilla Curtain - T.C. Boyle
Caramelo - Sandra Cisneros
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child - Elva Trevino Hart
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck
Londonstani - Gautam Malkani
Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
Bitter Grounds - Sandra Benitez
Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange - Amanda Smyth
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Mexican High: A Novel - Liza Monroy
The Blood of Flowers - Anita Amirrezvani
Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale
Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandaya
Silent Wing: A Novel - José Raul Bernardo

Rachel Keener, Belinda Acosta, Alberto Ferreras, Oscar Casares, JK Rowling, Barabra Kingsolver, Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, Raul Ramos y Sanchez, Stephen King, Alexie Sherman, Brando Skyhorse, Suzanne Collins ...and too many others to mention.