Catherine Hernandez Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Plays

Catherine Hernandez
Catherine Hernandez is a radical mom, a proud queer woman of color, theater practitioner, award-winning author, and the artistic director of b current Performing Arts and the Sulong Theater. She is of Chinese, Filipino, Spanish, and Indian heritage, and she is married into the Navajo Nation.

“Scarborough” was a finalist for the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, Toronto Book Award, the Trillium Book Award, and the Edmund White Award. It won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript.

She worked as a playwright for quite some time, and in theater you bank on the preview press to ensure that the first week of a production is populated well. Weeks before her debut was published, there was little press coverage. She cried, just trying to stay positive, telling herself that she had written a book, albeit one nobody would read and that it was an accomplishment all its own. Catherine learned, as the reviews poured in, that publishing fiction is paced way different than theater. She learned she didn’t have anything to worry about, since one year after it came out, it was going into its fourth printing.

The dedication at the start of “Scarborough” originates from when she was fifteen years old, as she was a volunteer drama teacher at the community center in Scarborough. The center was strapped for both staff and on funds. Catherine’s manager only wanted her to focus on teaching drama games to kids that had special difficulties being a part of the general population of the summer camp kids. One of the kids survived neglect, a young girl who was just the age of four; her mom abandoned her and her grandma didn’t want her either. Catherine had to teach her how to brush her teeth.

Catherine saw her on a subway. She introduced herself but the grandma wanted nothing to with her or even her own grandchild. The granddaughter had a tough time trying to keep up with her grandma, who was trying just to leave the child behind. She hopes the girl is safe and still alive.

She did research for a story in the year 2008 for a story she worked on that never came to fruition. It was about Clementine the orangutan who was able to use a chunk of plastic to swim from one side to the other of its moat. While she wrote “Scarborough”, this story finally had its place. Catherine wanted to include this in Sylvie’s narrative since she thought of Sylvie like this magical little girl that dreams about escape and another world but can just get there through storytelling.

While writing, she is on her bed or on the couch with a bunch of cushions all around her, because she believes desks and office chairs are self-torture devices. She needs a window she can look out at something beautiful. She has to write in a space that feels good. Anywhere confined or where stressed out people are, like a doctor’s office or an airport is no good either.

Catherine told the story the way she did because Scarborough, the place, is a real neighborhood filled with characters. She grew up with people telling you stories the entire time, and it made her feel the novel had to be in this same flavor.

With Bing, she wanted to write into existence the possibility of a queer femme that has got an ally in their mom and has support in being just who they truly are. Bing is Catherine’s dream come true.

“Scarborough”, Catherine’s debut novel, was released in the year 2017. Her work is from the genre of science fiction, and she has penned plays and a Children’s book.

“Scarborough” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2017. Scarborough is a culturally diverse and low income neighborhood, located east of Toronto, which is the fourth biggest city in North America. And like many inner city communities and suffers under the weight of drugs, poverty, crime, and the urban blight.

This is a tight-knit neighborhood under fire. Among them is Victor (a black artist that is constantly hassled by the cops), Hina (a Muslim school worker that witnesses up close poverty’s impact on education), and Winsum (a West Indian restaurant owner that struggles to keep things together).

There are also the three children that work to rise above the system that fails them so consistently. There is Bing (a gay Filipino male who lives in the shadow of his dad’s mental illness), Laura (her history of being neglected by her mom is destined to repeat itself with her dad), and Sylvie (Bing’s best friend and a Native female whose family struggles to find a permanent home to live in).

This is a troubled community that finds its dignity in rather unexpected places. A neighborhood that refuses to be ruined.

The novel offers an empathetic yet raw look into one troubled community. Readers found this to be a beautifully told story of different families and people.

“Crosshairs” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. This is a story about a near-future, where one queer Black performer and his allies band together to rise up when the oppressive regime gathers up those that are deemed to be “Other” into the concentration camps.

Massive floods have led to rampant devastation and homelessness. There is a government sanctioned regime known as The Boots which seizes on the chance to round up communities of disabled, of color, and LGBTQ+ into the labor camps.

But in the shadows, a new hero emerges. After he loses his job as a drag queen and the love of his life, Kay joins up with the resistance with Bahadur (a transmasculine refugee), and Firuzeh (a headstrong social worker). Guiding them in the use of close-quarters combat and weapons is a rogue army officer named Beck, who helps them plot an uprising at a major international event that will be televised. It explores the universal desire to love, thrive, and be loved for being your real self.