Brazilian-born Anna
K. Andrade, a resident of New York is one
of the contributors to Coloring Book: An Eclectic Anthology
of
Fiction & Poetry by Multicultural Writers. "A Daugher’s
Secret,"
which appears in the book is her first published story. It tells
of
a girl who sees her mother cheating with a strange man.
by: Ernest
Barteldes
It is quite hard to be
very specific on a genre for Coloring Book: An Eclectic Anthology of Fiction
& Poetry by Multicultural Writers, for it comprises various kinds
of fiction by a myriad of writers from all kinds of backgrounds. For instance,
there is erotica, drama, adventure, poetry and other kinds of genres coming
from writers from around the globe, including Brazilian-born Anna K. Andrade,
a resident of Queens, New York.
Ms. Andrade got involved
in the project when she saw a call for submissions on Poets & Writers
magazine, and she contacted Pittsburgh-based Boice-Terrel Allen, the collection’s
editor, who quickly accepted her submission, "A Daughter’s Secret",
a story about a precocious twelve-year-old bookworm who struggles with the
decision of telling or not her beloved father that she accidentally saw her
mother cheating with a stranger in their bedroom early one afternoon:
"The images of that
afternoon come back to her mind, and she decides she’ll have to face it at
some point: she can’t go on forever trying to pretend nothing has happened"
The reason for her indecision
is that her parents are both nurturing and kind to her and seem to have a
loving relationship, and her revelation might destroy the seemingly perfect
world they all live in:
"She’s my mother,
after all. I love her. But I love Dad too. It would hurt him enormously if
he were to find out. But it’s not fair. He has the right to know what his
wife is doing behind his back. Even if it breaks his heart. But she’s such
a good mother. She’ll hate me if I tell him."
Anna K. Andrade was born
in Fortaleza, Brazil. Three years ago she moved to New York to pursue her
Masters’ Degree in Creative Writing, which she enrolled in the fall of 2001
at City College in Harlem, and will be concluding this Spring.
She established in New
York early in 2001. She dabbled for a while in modeling and landed some bookings
at magazines like Self and Latina, but she soon realized that
her intellectual goals had little to do with that world.
"I never saw myself
as beautiful," she told me, "and I felt that that world in which
your substance really doesn’t matter wasn’t for me"
This writer mentioned
her in a feature for The Staten Island Register (August 14, 2001) on the controversy
that a Brazilian judge had been targeting underage, out-of-school models at
one of that country’s largest fashion festivals.
At the time, she commented
that she was often disgusted to see so many teenagers neglecting their studies.
"Although it might be glamorous for a lucky few," she said, "a
career in modeling is a very short one, so one needs a backup plan."
"A Daugher’s Secret"
is her first published story.
Coloring Book: An
Eclectic Anthology of Fiction & Poetry by Multicultural Writers,
edited by Boice-Terrel Allen, Rattlecat Press http://www.rattlecat.com
Available online or in
bookstores – Price: $17.95
This article was originally
published in The Staten Island Source.
Ernest Barteldes
is an ESL and Portuguese teacher. In addition to that, he is a freelance
writer who has regularly been contributing The Greenwich Village Gazette
since September 1999. His work has also been published by Brazzil,
The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register, The
SI Muse, The Villager, GLSSite and other publications.
He lives in Staten Island, NY. He can be reached at ebarteldes@yahoo.com