I wish to thank Jeanette Perez for her patience and guidance and Julie Castiglia, for her enthusiasm and support of my work. For enabling and celebrating my debut novel, I would like to thank Rene Alegria, Melinda Moore, Cecilia Molinari, Isabel Allende, Pernod Ricard, the Miami Book Fair International, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the International Latino Book Awards, Las Comadres Para Las Americas, and Marcela Landres.
Love and gratitude to my husband, Robert O. Barron, whose support has brought forth two novels. As always, thank you to my mother, Yolanda Rodriguez, and to my family and friends for years of inspiration and encouragement. Special thanks to Suzanne Donahue and Judith Cooper Haden.
I couldn’t have written about the beauty and magic of bioluminescence without financial support from the Ford Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Southwest Airlines, through a grant from the NALAC Fund for the Arts. Muchísimas gracias.