Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz A Quinceañera Club Novel

All Ana Ruiz wants is to have a traditional quinceanera for her daughter, Carmen. But Carmen is not interested--she blames her mom for breaking up their family. Ana realizes that if she's going to teach Carmen anything about what it means to be a woman, it will take more than simply a fancy party to do it.

Belinda Acosta has written and published plays, short stories, and essays. As a journalist, her work has appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, The San Antonio Current, and AlterNet. Her short story Tortilla Dough appeared in Saguaro, a publication of the University of Arizona in 1992. In 1993, she produced, directed and performed in a multi-media dance-theater performance of La Llorona. National exposure came in 1995 when she read her personal essay Gran Baile, on Latino USA - the Radio Journal of News and Culture, carried on National Public Radio.

Acosta received a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The University of Texas in 1997. She lives in Austin, Texas and is the TV and media columnist for The Austin Chronicle.