Guadalupe V. Lopez

Guadalupe V. Lopez has high goals for her stories. “My mission is to promote harmony across cultures. I write to children in Spanish and in English, and I speak to them as I would my own children, sort of like parables,” she said.

Lopez’s journey into language and writing began in the 1960s. She didn’t speak English. “I understood more than I dared to say. I was a keen observer,” she admits. Lopez had a best friend whose mother was an English teacher. She taught her English with a Southern accent since they were from Alabama. “I remember being stumped by the words union and onion, and she said, ‘Look here, baby. Look at my mouth.’ That was the beginning of my fascination with linguistics.”

That interest was further nurtured by her English teacher, Mr. Dalton. He encouraged her to write at all times, and she expressed herself best with paper and pen, “He gave me a little notebook to carry around and note observations and drawings. He even sent one of my poems to be published, and he wrote a poem for me when I turned 12. I can still see the curve of his penmanship and the color of the ink. Mr. Dalton taught me to love words and the smell of a book when it’s first opened.”

Lopez would open many books and learn from them. In 1984, she received her B.A. in Spanish Language Arts from Northern Illinois University. In addition to writing, she edits, translates, and composes.

Lopez feels fortunate to have several writing assignments that are in line with her values. Presently, she’s writing some essays to appear in literature anthologies. “I wrote about Celia Cruz, and how she overcame sexism and discrimination to become the Queen of Salsa.”

In another essay, Lopez wrote about a “graphic urban expressionist” who created an awesome mosaic mural within some bricked-in windows of an inner city school. He trained a group of middle school children to help him. “What a great experience for these kids! It reminded me of when I was a child in Chicago and I participated in a ‘garbage truck beautification’ project. We painted murals on the plain blue trucks. Our group won third place. It was thrilling to spot our truck on the street!”

Another writing assignment she loves involves a lonely girl who writes about her life in her journal. Only the events aren’t happening to her, they are happening to a girl named Lucinda. She and her father are always moving, so she never has the chance to make friends. “I think many children will identify with her.”

Lopez’s three children, two teenage girls and a little boy, have, and continue to inspire her. “If I’m writing for children in grade 1, I recall my children at that age, and I develop characters like them. For example, when my daughter was little, she and her godmother used to ride the subway and spend the day in downtown Chicago. That inspired a story called Tía Nena. On another occasion, I was asked to write a story about friendship. This was for high school [students], so I spent some time at my daughter’s high school watching the kids on campus. I also talked with my daughter and her friends. They view friendship very differently than my 8-year-old son does.”

Lopez lives in Salinas, California where she writes fiction and nonfiction. She takes her kids to various classes. While she waits she jots down thoughts and things people say in her little notebook, just like she did for Mr. Dalton.