Proud Latina Alumna and writer Margo Candela is stepping foot back in her Glendale Community College days and promoting her new book The Neapolitan Sisters. 

On Oct. 13, the Journalism Department will host a Q/A with Candela who will discuss her GCC days, her journey towards writing, and her new novel. The event will allow current students to seek insight in a writer’s perspective, learn more about the new novel and gain inspiration from a former student. 

“The GCC Pulitzer Center Consortium, in collaboration with the Journalism and Spanish Departments, is excited to host Margo Candela,” said Dr. Reut Cohen Schorr, an assistant professor at the college and co-founder of the GCC Pulitzer Center. “Ms. Candela is so proud of her community college experience and reminds us of the unique opportunity it affords to students who aspire to achieve. The event is open to the public.” 

Published with Penguin Random House, The Neapolitan Sisters is about a family of three sisters, an alcoholic dad, and a passive aggressive mother. The now grown sisters visit home for a wedding, while talking about broken promises, coming to terms with their parents, and secrets they’ve kept. 

In a podcast episode with LatinX Audio Mag, Candela discusses how her writing journey advanced when writing for El Vaquero as a news reporter. “I had a teacher, Mr. Eberts, reach out to me to write for the school’s paper. And it had never occurred to me to do that, and sent a letter over the summer asking me to join the newspaper. And my mother passed by me reading the letter and said ‘you’ve always liked to read and liked to write so why don’t you give it a try.’ And I joined, it turned into those random comments, it took a teacher and my mom to really change the course of my life,” Candela stated about five minutes into the podcast. 

The podcast goes on to discuss how significant a nudge from a teacher can redirect a student’s path positively. 

You can catch Margo Candela’s Q/A on Oct. 13, from 12:20 to 1:20 pm, with GCC’s Journalism Department via Zoom. You can also learn more about Candela’s journey with writing and her other novels on her website. 

Alexandra Der Boghosian can be reached at [email protected].