Two foremost Belizean authors share their experiences

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1990
Kathy Esquivel
Nia Arthurs

University of Belize lecturer Ivory Kelly recently shared interviews with two notable authors, who reside in Belize City, and have made a career in writing. Kathy Esquivel and Nia Arthurs appeared virtually as part of Ivory Kelly’s lecture to the non-fiction writing class at the University of Belize.
Esquivel is the wife of former Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel. She is the author of ‘Under the Shade’ and Benjy, both of which are now available on Amazon.
The former First Lady shared with students that in writing a book, one must decide on who the audience is and the age-appropriate content.
“It is a lot of work, it is a lot of dedication,” says the author of Benjy, for which all profits go to the Welcome Resource Center in Belize City.
Esquivel is about to release her next book in June of this year, which is a biography of Manuel Esquivel. In it, Mrs. Esquivel will also share a memoir as First Lady.
Nia Arthurs, the author of 88 novels with a particular niche, shared her business model with students. Arthurs said that publishing is all about choices when it comes to making money. Nia Arthurs shares that it takes three to five years in writing serially “…to get on its feet…in order to generate a comfortable living.”
The great Belizean writer Arthurs, guards her e-mailing list preciously as it is where she shares her newsletters with her avid readers of romance novels. Writing is “…the hardest business in the World…” she shares because one has to compete with Netflix and other attention grabbers.