Sarah Cortez will be speaking on the Young Latino Writers Open Up panel on Thursday from 12-12:50. She is editor of a collection of short memoirs entitled Windows into My World published by Arte Público Press.

Have you attended TLA before? If so, what advice do you have for new authors?

I have not attended TLA before, although I have read about it. I'm thrilled to be attending this year -- both as a presenter and as an avid lover of books and librarians. (As a child, one of my dreams was to be a librarian. I couldn't imagine a better life than one in which I worked with books all day long.)

The theme for TLA 2008 is "Books, Bytes and Beyond". How would you describe yourself in 4 words?

Organized, smart, intuitive, hard-working.

What is your preferred method of writing and why -- laptop, longhand, typewriter?

Longhand. When one types, then too much energy is used in the process of mechanical tasks. I feel that writing longhand allows the brain and subconscious to feed into the writing in a way that typing does not allow. The connection of the blood in the hand to the page is very important.

What are you reading right now?

Janet Evanovich

Movie you've loved in the past year

I don't watch movies.

The perfect vacation is...

someplace tropical with beautiful skies, an luxury hotel with a fine kitchen, no alarm clocks, and old Catholic churches with hand-painted saints and the Virgin Mary.