Welcome to the etheric home of information
about author/editor/independent filmmaker...
CRISTINA SALAT !
"Determine that the thing shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
Abraham Lincoln
from Live Good, compiled by Kobi Yomada, Compendium Publishing, © 2005
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This Website Includes :
(Click on any of the following categories to jump ahead...or just scroll on down!)
"Beginnings" from Cristina's work
Reviews (from Publisher's Weekly to a 14-year-old in Milwaukee!)
Film Titles & Filmmaker Bootcamp
Working with Cristina (manuscript editing/publishing industry consultation)
Contacting author/ex-New York editor Cristina Salat
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Every beginning leads to all that follows
...and nowhere is the beginning more crucial than in literature!
Some "beginnings" from Cristina:
"In the middle of the night, my mother comes to steal me away. I am still up, reading under my covers with a flashlight, half-listening for Daddy or his girlfriend, Rosa, when I hear a muffled bump outside my window." Cristina Salat, Living In Secret, Bantam Books/Dell Yearling/Books MarcUs
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"At 28, in an empty Oregon church, I look for god who looks something like me only bigger." Cristina Salat, Sacred River |
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"One day will our people put your microwaves under glass and say with studied authority In white culture the women creatively cooked without heat?" Cristina Salat, Winds of Change: American Indian Education & Opportunity |
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"Wolf was not pretty; she was dashing. She had short brown hair, long brown limbs and a smile that could charm femmes into bed ...or so it had always been." Cristina Salat, Once Upon A Time, edited by Michael Ford, Masquerade Books |
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"The ship called Earth on which we stand is sinking. The time to make better choices and insist on life rafts for all was yesterday... Is there common ground? Yes. We are standing on it." Cristina Salat, Indigenous Peoples Recruit for the New Frontier The Humanist: Magazine of Critical Inquiry & Social Concern |
If you'd like to read one of Cristina's articles, her indigenous Peoples Recruit for the New Frontier published in The Humanist: Magazine of Critical Inquiry & Social Concern is reprinted at this link: Cristina's Indigenous People's article.
Other of Cristina's fiction & non-fiction can be ordered directly from the periodicals they appeared in, such as her science fiction storySay Goodbye To Dana published by Whiskey Island Magazine Fall '84: Say Goodbye To Dana
Her books can be found in local bookstores & libraries, plus via ordering services like Amazon (see below!)
And there are numerous articles to be found about Cristina, such as the January 2008 one in Vision Magazine about her indepenent filmmaking adventures in Hawaii: www.visionmagazine.com/archives/0801/hawaii_january_2008.html
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Urban born, multi-racial author/ex-New York editor, CRISTINA SALAT has worked within the publishing industry, both behind New York/California desks and freelance, for book publishers, magazines, film producers, newspapers, small presses, and authors nationwide.
She is published by Bantam Books, Children's Television Workshop, Prentice Hall, Dell Yearling, HarperCollins, Charlesbridge Press, Sidewalk Revolution Press, CDR-Forlag, Masquerade Books, Running Deer Press, Eighth Mountain Press, "Popular Photography", "The Humanist", "Family Next Door", "Planet Roc", and many more! (She has also been contracted by Simon & Schuster, Little Brown, Independent Cinema, etc. for work that has not yet been produced.)
SALAT'S written work spans fiction and non-fiction genres, including movie novelizations, film scripts, magazine articles, and books for youth. Her children's books include the award-winning LIVING IN SECRET , the Ghostwriter series' ALIAS DIAMOND JONES, and most recently, the children's picture book PEANUT'S EMERGENCY, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a featured title in Soliloquy Learning's new PC interactive Reading Fluency series.
SALAT is the founder of cultural/creative offerings including Kulana: a racially diverse Artist Sanctuary www.discoverkulana.com located on the Big Island of Hawaii, Shark Productions: an independent film company "with teeth" www.sharkproductions.biz, and Northern California's popular Publishing Salons.
A dynamic public lecturer and workshop host, SALAT thrives on furthering what is "possible" for the artistically and compassionately inclined. She enjoys the publishing process from A to Z and travels extensively for research, film shoots, book promo & pleasure, recently savoring California, Arizona, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and of course, her home-base on a live volcano in Hawaii!
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(from Publisher's Weekly to a 14-year-old in Milwaukee)
"courageous, thought-provoking" |
"a wonderful story which details the difficulties of a young girl living under an assumed identity" |
"all-inspiring" |
"This Ghostwriter book certainly has some food for thought" |
"This is ine of the first really good young adult book that I have seen dealing with split families in which one parent is not straight." |
"Written over ten years ago...still as important today as it was then" |
"Although it's just a TV tie-in, it rises above its source. This is one of the best children's books I've seen in a long while" |
"charming" |
"is sure to delight young readers while honing their survival skills" |
"a lively page-turner" |
"sensitively written" |
"adorable, exuberant and full of life" |
"a great hero for the preteen set" |
"young readers and parents will have a 'sunshine happy, stamp-your-sneakers feeling good' time" |
"crafted with insight and skill" |
"wondrous enthusiasm" |
"Two friends and I bought 120 copies of this book and we're passing them around the United States." |
"a great job portraying emotions" |
"a well balanced story that promotes a host of good things...Bravo!" |
"witty and energetic" |
"great good humor and thoughtfulness" |
"motivating and inspiring" |
"a great talent for balance" |
"'Read another chapter!' came to be the refrain as our read-aloud time began to cut into recess and free time" |
"invaluable" |
Cristina's novels, picturebooks, and anthologies she is included in have won numerous awards including:
ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Horn Book Fanfare
Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age
ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Book Award
Minnesota Book Award
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Horn Book Fanfare
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Book Award
A sampling of reviews in their entirety, award listings, & inclusion in recommended reading lists can be found at the following links:
Article about Cristina's filmmaking adventures in Hawaii: "From deep within the lush rainforest near Volcano National Park, Salat is training a new batch of independent filmmakers on how to make movies using ingenuity, skill and their own inner resources." (Nicole Pugh, Vision Magazine)
Article about Cristina's Independent Filmmaker Bootcamp: "It's hard to imagine anything standing in the way of this artist's process!" (Kristine Kubat, Big Island Weekly)
Alias Diamond Jones review Amazon
Living In Secret review Amazon readers plus Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Review
Living In Secret review Edmonton Public Library
Living In Secret review & book details Tower.com's bestsellers on Family, Marriage & Divorce.
Living In Secret Oakland library LGBT recommended book lists
Peanut's Emergency Chicago Public Schools Kindergarten Recommended Reading List
Am I Blue? review Barnes & Nobel review
Am I Blue? review Amazon readers plus School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly
Am I Blue? review Powell's review
Am I Blue? review Canada Family Pride
Am I Blue? review: "When a book that sets out to do good turns out to be as good as this one, we are all winners."(Katherine Paterson in The Washington Post )
For more book reviews, interviews, articles, info, and creative offerings pertaining to Cristina,
just google "Cristina Salat" and thousands of entries will appear! (And there's more under the incorrect spelling of her name as well! i.e. "Christina" Salat...)
updated 2/08
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(And Cristina & her artist sanctuary get a % if you purchase from here on this site!)
edited by Cristina for Two Bears Press: |
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Living In Secret
Peanut's Emergency
Alias Diamond Jones
Sister Stranger
Am I Blue?
Higher Learning
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To view clips of "Dragon" and "Pele's Home,"
and to learn about Cristina's other film endeavors, travel to: www.sharkproductions.biz
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NEW from Cristina & Shark Productions:
Independent Filmmaker BOOTCAMP IN HAWAII! hosted by Cristina Salat and Shark Productions 2-3x/week, monthly on the Big Island of Hawaii next openings in: 2008! Imagine this: collaborating on scripts, acting, directing, being creative with lighting & sound, shooting a variety of projects from dramas to docs, creating original music & sets, editing, producing, and promoting... learning... sharing skills & tools... birthing finished "products" into the world... and building a portfolio of produced work... all while enjoying the magic that Pele's home island has to offer! Bootcamp includes immersion in the above 2-3x a week, in month-long chunks. Hosted at Kulana Artist Sanctuary (www.discoverkulana.com) by author/ex-New York editor/independent filmmaker Cristina Salat, though filming will occur island-wide to make use of the island's dramatic locations: tropical black, white & green-sand beaches, molten lava beds & smoking craters, Planet-of-The-Ape-type jungles, and snow-covered mountain peaks! We are creating a variety of "shorts" from script through to film festival and theater submission as well as preparing feature scripts aimed for Hollywood production. As a solid, compatible core of committed filmmakers forms, we may birth independent feature films in Hawaii as well. Cost: $200-300/month plus tax for bootcamp alone; or $500-600/month plus tax bootcamp + accommodations at Kulana, as available. Emerging and established filmmakers welcome! Longer term bootcampers in good standing eligible for paid positions as they arise! NOTE: In order to minimize scheduling conflicts, bootcampers welcome to jump on board whenever their calendars allow by reserving 4 week-long chunks (not necessarily at the beginning of a month) of bootcamp alone, or bootcamp + accomodations, whenever Cristina is on island and bootcamps are being offered. Come join our ever-evolving rotation of filmmakers creating magic on Pele's Big Island! For further information & application: 808-985-9055. |
BIG ISLAND WEEKLY published a fabulous article on our independent filmmaking adventures:
http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2008/01/02/read/a_and_e/arts04.txt
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Find Cristina Salat's publishing intensives,
creative life workshops,
writing-for-children seminars,
and writing/publishing retreats
offered through The Volcano Arts Center!
Sample descriptions of past offerings can be found at:
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PUBLIC APPEARANCES, lectures, speaking engagements, keynote addresses, school visits...developmental EDITING of manuscripts...and CONSULTATIONS regarding publishing contracts/publishing industry/the creative life...all available:
SCHEDULE PERMITTING!
Sample trade review of project edited by Cristina HANDS written by Bernard Dadie, with illustrations by Keba Konte published by Two Bears Press, 2003 School Library Journal: Dadie, who was imprisoned for anticolonial writing in his native Ivory Coast, celebrates freedom and unity in his poetry. Using a symbol that transcends ethnic and cultural barriers, he venerates hands that labor, caress, and heal, "Black hands, made to mold Love/callused,/to wear bitterness away-." His free verse and Konte's haunting images paint pictures that stir the soul and delight the eye. These compelling montages incorporate photographs of the world's children running, leaping, playing, bathing, and laboring, to punctuate Dadie's prose with visual power. These provocative collages, some on blistering, peeling wood, strip away society's veneer to reveal heartbreaking truths about injustice and human cruelty. Together, the riveting images and phrases meld to "upset the boundaries erected on the path to the heart." Labeled a "crossover classic," this sophisticated picture book with its multiple layers of meaning will be appreciated most by mature readers, but the unforgettable, evocative imagery works on many levels. Useful across the curriculum (literature, history, world cultures, multicultural studies) or to provoke discussion about human rights, Hands should also be read for the beauty of its polished prose, its stunning artwork, and its timeless message.
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CONSULTING WITH CRISTINA:
Corporate rate: Prepaid per project fee.
Individual rate: $150/hour. Phone/in-person appointment, schedule permitting. Please note: publishing industry, contract negotiation, and creative life consultations are offered in author-editor terms, and are not intended as legal advice.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING OF MANUSCRIPTS :
Mail: fee for developmental "red-line" edit regarding manuscript's strengths/flaws/marketability /suggestions for effective revision at the following rates
| 1 single-spaced submission/query letter page |
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Novella/non-fiction of up to 150 double-spaced pages | Novel/non-fiction book of up to 250 double-spaced pages | Up to 350 double-spaced pages | Up to 500 double-spaced pages | |
$25
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$200 |
$450 |
$750
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$950 |
$1,500 |
plus: $150 for an overall assessment/industry update of the publishing world as it pertains to project in the form of a letter that will accompany return of the edited manuscript, if this is desired,
plus: manuscript (cleanly typewritten, in an easily legible type size and font, with at least 1-inch margins), one-page cover letter describing your project, its intended audience and desired publisher (adult, children's, N.Y. house, university press, small press, etc.), SASE (self-addressed, self-stamped envelope with adequate postage to return manuscript first class), and payment (check made payable to: "Cristina Salat") to:
Bookings/Editorial
c/o Kulana Artist Sanctuary
POB 190
Volcano, HI 96785
Please note:
All editing, consultation, and speaking engagements done pre-paid, including travel expenses.
Technical information books no longer edited.
Manuscripts beyond 500 pages edited by special arrangement only.
General editing turnaround time = 2 - 8 weeks.
"Second-pass" edits for work previously reviewed = 20% less fee based on revised draft's new page count.
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"My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here."
Jim Henson
Live Good
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Email the author at: info@cristinasalat.com
And for what's new with Cristina and Kulana, the Affordable Artist Sanctuary she founded in Hawaii,
visit Kulana's website: www.discoverkulana.com and Kulana's newsletter!
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Live good!