Tim Z. Hernandez is a poet, novelist, and performance artist whose awards include the 2006 American Book Award, the 2010 Premio Aztlán Prize in Fiction, and the James Duval Phelan Award from the San Francisco Foundation. In 2011 the Poetry Society of America named him one of sixteen New American Poets. He holds a BA from Naropa University and an MFA from Bennington College and is the author of the novel Breathing, In Dust, as well as three collections of poetry, including Natural Takeover of Small Things.
"Hernandez gives incredible depth and dimensionality to the love
story of Jack Kerouac and Bea Franco."--Los Angeles Review of Books
"Seductive and fascinating."--Fresno Bee "Hernandez's choice to
write [Bea's] story as fiction is gutsy, inspired, and does honor
to Kerouac, who fictionalized the real-life characters he met in On
The Road. The result is an earthy and soulful tale, a version of
their improbable love affair that feels as true as
Kerouac's."--Catch Release "There is no other novel like this in
American publishing--Bea Franco's story and her relationship with
Jack Kerouac are vital, compelling, and absolutely necessary.
Central California, with its history of immigration and
agriculture, along with labor camps and workers, is a landscape
presented in a different way here, and the women in these places
are exactly the characters America desperately needs right now.
They are all created in a singular way here."--Susan Straight,
author of Between Heaven and Here and Highwire Moon
"A beautifully realized portrait of Bea Franco."--Los Angeles Times
"Whether or not you are a Kerouac fan, Tim Z. Hernandez has created
an important entry for the Kerouac canon that also stands on its
own merits as a well-crafted novel about love and loss.
Bravo."--Rick Dale, The Daily Beat "Hernandez's portrayal offers a
telling counterpoint to Kerouac's rendering, reclaiming Franco's
agency and offering a depth and insight into her circumstances and
the life of women like her who, both on the page and in everyday
life, are too often consigned to anonymity."--Zyzzyva
"Hernandez's intimate knowledge of life amid the agricultural
fields of central California and his ability to conjure the
thoughts and emotions of the young Bea Franco make for a graceful
and melancholy tale."--Associated Press "The story of Bea
Franco--n�e Bea Renteria, a.k.a. Jack Kerouac's "Mexican girl," or
Terry, from his novel-cum-Beat-generation-manifesto On the Road--is
a mesmeric tale born of Hernandez's passionate curiosity. Based on
extensive research and investigation, part fact, mostly fiction,
and years in the making, this novel will thrill the millions of
readers who have read Kerouac's book and/or seen the movie
adaptation. But no prior knowledge of Kerouac or his works is
required: this is an entirely fascinating, standalone story in its
own right."--Booklist "Through documents, interviews, and dogged
research, Tim Z. Hernandez pieces together her life and the
significance of that chance encounter that shaped both of their
lives forever."--New York Times
"Not since The Bridges of Madison County has a love story been more
forbidden and compelling. Bea Franco and Jack Kerouac's 15 day
tryst, dependent on tequila, compromise and hope, has been held
captive, nearly forgotten, for over 60 years. Only now are we
fortunate to have a writer as gifted as TZ Hernandez tell it with
such coraz�n and poignancy."--Michele Serros, author of How to be a
Chicana Role Model
"Tim Hernandez's groundbreaking book has shed new light on the
near-mythical 'Mexican Girl' of Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel, On the
Road. The story of the real-life Mexican Girl, Bea Franco, Ma�ana
Means Heaven is by turns tender and rewarding, offering a dazzling
offshoot from the oft-explored road story that is Kerouac's."--Paul
Maher Jr., author of Jack Kerouac's American Journey
"With Ma�ana Means Heaven, Hernandez offers us the new big bold
Beat--a power love, a love we never lost, a groundbreaking,
soul-devouring mega tour de-force!"--Juan Felipe Herrera, U.S. Poet
Laureate and author of Half of the World in Light "We become more
savvy readers of Kerouac through the eyes of Hernandez's
muse."--Los Angeles Review "Ma�ana Means Heaven provides an
important counternarrative to the establishment of the 'Beat
Generation' writers."--Alex Espinoza, author of Still Water Saints:
A Novel
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