Zoraida Córdova is an Ecuadorian-American author of children's books and romance, best known for her ''Brooklyn Brujas'' series. She also writes romance as Zoey Castile.

Personal life

Córdova was born in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and came to the United States when she was five or six years old. English is her

second language A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which ...

. She grew up in Hollis, Queens. Her favorite books in high school were ''

In the Forests of the Night ''In the Forests of the Night'' is a vampire novel written by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, and published in 1999. It was originally entitled ''White Wine''. Atwater-Rhodes wrote it at the age of thirteen, but it was published on May 11, 1999, about ...

'' and ''

Demon in my View ''Demon in My View'' is a vampire novel written by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, and published on May 9, 2000. Originally entitled ''Bitter Life'', it was published when the author was 16. It is the follow-up to ''In the Forests of the Night'', whi ...

'' by Amelia Atwater Rhodes, which she first read at age 13. Impressed by the fact that Rhodes was published when she was 14, Córdova was inspired to start to want to become a writer as well. Córdova attended the

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...

’s writing camps in high school, with the help of a supportive teacher, and the Summer Solstice writing conference at

Pine Manor college Messina College is an undergraduate constituent college of Boston College. Until 2020 the school was an independent private college in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts referred to as "Pine Manor College" (PMC). The school was founded in 1911 as a p ...

. She says that she wrote many unfinished stories in college, accumulating multiple "Part 1s", and completed her first novel at age 19. After college, she interned at PMA Literary and Film management, where she first met the person who would become her

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...

. Córdova identifies as Latina and is one of the co-founders of the Latinx in Kidlit blog, a website centering fellow Latinx writers.

Selected works

Córdova wrote her first

query letter A query letter is a formal letter sent by a writer to magazine editors, literary agents Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially nov ...

to a literary agent when she was 17. She wrote two more novels before writing the novel that ultimately made her able to get literary representation. The Vicious Deep Series Córdova wrote what would become her debut novel, ''The Vicious Deep'', as part of the National Novel Writing Month in 2010. It sold to

Sourcebooks A sourcebook is a collection of texts on a particular subject intended for use as an introduction to the subject. The selected texts are typically edited, laid out, and typeset in a uniform format before binding, and the result is often a hardcov ...

within a week of submitting. ''The Vicious Deep'' follows Tristan, a boy who gets swept away by a tidal wave and lands on

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

, having developed strange powers. It was published by Sourcebooks in August 2012. Córdova says that she has had an infatuation with the sea ever since she was a child, saying that she had been sent a

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

by her grandmother while still living in Ecuador and started to develop an interest in mermaids. While there is one biracial Ecuadorian and Greek side character in the novel, Córdova says that "it all began in Ecuador" for her. She first had the concrete idea for the novel when she spent a summer in Coney Island. Two sequels, ''The Savage Blue'' and ''The Vast and Brutal Sea'', followed in May 2013 and June 2015. Brooklyn Brujas Series Her second young adult series, ''Brooklyn Brujas (Witches)'', originally began as a Latinx version of

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

and has been inspired by Córdova's Ecuadorian heritage. Córdova says that she wanted to write about identity, family, and magic, while being inclusive of people of color, without taking from preexisting mythologies, ultimately creating a fictional pantheon of gods, inspired by many different Latin American cultures. She worked on multiple drafts of what would become the first novel, ''Labyrinth Lost'', for years before it ultimately sold in 2014. ''Labyrinth Lost'' follows Alex, a bruja who hates magic and accidentally makes her entire family vanish when she performs a spell to rid herself of her own magic. It was published by Sourcebooks in September 2016 and received a starred review from

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

. In April 2017, it was announced that Paramount had acquired movie rights to the novel. the project is still in early development and no producer or writer has been attached yet. A sequel, ''Bruja Born'', about Lula, the sister of the protagonist of the first book, whose life is turned upside down after a bus crash, was published in June 2018. Córdova says that she didn't feel the story was complete after the first novel and that she didn't want to "mess up" Alex's ending, so chose the point of view of her sister instead, writing a much more "darker" novel in tone than the first. A third novel in the series is slated for publication in 2020. Star Wars She wrote the short story "You Owe Me a Ride", included in the short story collection ''Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View'', featuring 40 authors' takes on stories taking place during the first ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' film, '' Star Wars: A New Hope'', as told through the perspective of supporting characters. The collection was released in October 2017. Córdova is also the author ''A Crash of Fate'', a ''Star Wars'' canon universe novel released by

Disney-Lucasfilm Press Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW), formerly known as The Disney Publishing Group and Buena Vista Publishing Group, is the publishing subsidiary of Disney Experiences, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its imprints include Disney Edition ...

in August 2019. It tells the story of Izzy and Jules, two best friends on the run from vengeful smugglers and pirates. She also wrote the short-story "The Lost Nightsister''"'' included in the short story collection ''The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark'' released by

in 2020. Other works She also writes romance under the pen name Zoey Castile, most notably her

Magic Mike ''Magic Mike'' is a 2012 American independent comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around Adam, a 19-year-old ...

-inspired Happy Endings series about male strippers falling in love. In October 2018, it was announced that she would be co-editing a young adult fantasy anthology featuring called ''Vampires Never Get Old'' together with author Natalie Parker, featuring stories by authors

Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed (born 15 June 1968) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she presents '' Front Row'' on Radio 4 and '' Newswatch'' on the BBC News channel and BBC One during '' BBC Breakfast'', and regularly present ...

, Julie Murphy,

Rebecca Roanhorse Rebecca Roanhorse (born 23 September 1971) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from New Mexico. She has written short stories and science fiction novels featuring Navajo characters.Kerry Lengel"Navajo legends come to life in Rebecca ...

Laura Ruby Laura Ruby is an American author of twelve books, including '' Bone Gap'' (2015), winner of the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award and finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She is also a professor at Hamline Universit ...

, and Victoria Schwab. Publication is planned for fall 2020. Her middle grade debut, ''The Way to Rio Luna'', about an eleven-year-old who finds a book that transports him to a fairyland, was announced in October 2019 and planned for publication with Scholastic in summer 2020.

Bibliography

As Zoraida Córdova

Adult ''The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina'' (Atria Books, 2021) Young adult Vicious Deep Series # ''The Vicious Deep'' (Sourcebooks, 2012) # ''The Savage Blue'' (Sourcebooks, 2013) # ''The Vast and Brutal Sea'' (Sourcebooks, 2014) Brooklyn Brujas Series # ''Labyrinth Lost'' (Sourcebooks, 2016) # ''Bruja Born'' (Sourcebooks, 2018) # ''Wayward Witch'' (Sourcebooks, 2020) Star Wars Canon Universe * '' Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: A Crash of Fate'' (Disney-Lucasfilm Press, 2019) * '' Star Wars: The High Republic: Convergence'' (Del Rey, 2022) * '' Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless'' (Del Rey, 2024) Hollow Crown Series # ''Incendiary'' (

Disney Hyperion Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW), formerly known as The Disney Publishing Group and Buena Vista Publishing Group, is the publishing subsidiary of Disney Experiences, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its imprints include Disney Edition ...

, 2020) # ''Illusionary'' (

, 2021) Middle Grade fiction * ''The Way to Rio Luna'' (Scholastic, 2020) * ''Valentina Salazar Is Not a Monster Hunter'' (Scholastic, 2022) Romance * ''Kiss the Girl'' (Penguin Random House, 2023) On the Verge Series # ''Luck on the Line'' (Diversion Books, 2014) # ''Love on the Ledge'' (Diversion Books, 2015) # ''Life on the Level'' (Diversion Books, 2016) Short Stories * "You Owe Me a Ride" in ''Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View'', edited by Elizabeth Schaefer ( Del Rey, 2017) * "Luz, Queen of Los Luceros" (Hanging Garden, 2017) * "Divine Are the Stars" in ''Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft'', edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe (

Harlequin Teen Harlequin Enterprises ULC (known simply as Harlequin) is a publisher of romance, women's fiction and various other genres under multiple publishing imprints. Founded in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1949, from the 1960s, it grew into the largest publish ...

, 2018) * "The Lost Nightsister" in ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark'' (Disney-Lucasfilm Press, 2020) * "Confessions of an Ecuadorkian" in ''Come On In'', edited by

Adi Alsaid Adi Alsaid (born June 30, 1987) is a Mexican-born author of young adult fiction. His debut novel, ''Let's Get Lost'', was a YALSA Teens' Top Ten Nominee in 2015. His second stand-alone novel, ''Never Always Sometimes'', was nominated as a ''Kirk ...

(Inkyard Press, 2020) * "Vampires Never Say Die" in ''Vampires Never Get Old'', (Imprint, 2020) * ''Fantastic Worlds: Impossible Places'' ( Random House Children's, 2021) As Editor * ''Vampires Never Get Old'' (Imprint, 2020), with Natalie C. Parker * ''Mermaids Never Drown'' (Feiwel and Friends, 2023), with Natalie C. Parker and

Darcie Little Badger Darcie Little Badger (formerly Darcie Erin Ryan; born 1987) is an American novelist, short story writer, and Earth scientist. Her writings are specialized in speculative fiction, especially horror, science fiction, and fantasy. She is a member ...

* ''Faeries Never Lie'' (Feiwel and Friends, 2024), with Natalie C. Parker

As Zoey Castile

Romance Happy Endings Series # ''Stripped'' (

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, 2018) # ''Hired'' (Kensington, 2019) # ''Flashed'' (Kensington, 2019) Short Stories * ''Rogue Passion'' (Rogue Passion Publishing, 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Córdova, Zoraida Living people Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century American women writers 1987 births Writers from Guayaquil 21st-century Ecuadorian women writers Exophonic writers