Biography
Andrea Portes is the bestselling novelist of the critically lauded novel, HICK. The book was her debut novel and has since been optioned to be made into a feature film. Andrea Portes was honored to actually write the screenplay adaptation.
Andrea grew up shuffled around between such disparate locales as Nebraska, Brasilia, Texas, Rio De Janiero, Baltimore, North Dakota, California, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Finally, Andrea was granted relief from this nomadic existence when she was accepted to Bryn Mawr College, where she attended on full scholarship and later graduated cum laude, with a major in English Literature. She then earned her Masters in Fine Arts degree from UC-San Diego.
After her relentless education, Andrea moved to the neighborhood of Echo Park in Los Angeles, where she spent years mostly getting into trouble and living in a world far beyond the ivory tower existence she had led for so long. It was in this period of vague nothingness that Andrea penned her debut novel, in longhand in three notebooks, somewhere amidst the hurly burly of those reprobate days.
Currently, she lives in the Franklin Hills of Los Angeles and is finishing up her second novel. Andrea was discovered and continues to be represented by Sally van Haitsma of the Julie Castiglia Agency and is a proud member of the Unbridled Books family, under the care of editor Fred Ramey.
Nancy said,
March 22, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Andrea, I was hoping you would have a website. Just finished reading “Hick”. I have never read a book remotely close to it. Its not a fake imitation of guessing how that lifestyle is….I know you have lived every single day of it. You write of things you can’t know unless you have actually lived it. Here’s the thing: I grew up exactly like you, hell, alot of us did but there aren’t any books about us, not really….until yours. You are one of us but it doesn’t mean you are defeated, devoid of ambition and intelligence, not even worth a box of welfare cheese. But somehow you rose above it all….I mean I think its safe to assume you don’t live in a trailer park with a velvet paint-by-number of Elvis hanging over the sofa. I don’t know you but I am so proud of you, my hick sister, you give us inspiration that maybe our scruffy little underdeveloped dreams can somehow be a reality one day. Thank you for a beautiful book.
Melissa said,
October 3, 2010 at 3:51 am
Hello Andrea,
I’m so incredibly excited to spread your novel to young people who will finally hear a voice like theirs speaking through the pages. I’m teaching your novel in the next few weeks at Lincoln Southeast High School in Nebraska. The students couldn’t be more excited that someone from their stomping grounds got out and made something of themselves. Are there any main messages or themes you feel as an author you would really like them to understand? I know they would love to hear anything you would say to them. Thank you so much for speaking the truth and letting teens everywhere know they are strong, they have a voice, and not everyone is Gossip Girl perfect!
Audrey, 12 yrs old. said,
February 21, 2011 at 3:36 am
The reason I read Hick was because I discovered my favourite actress, Chloe Grace Moretz would appear in the film. I fell in love with the book and the character Luli and and it became my favourite book. I love that it portrays how young girls such as myslef and Luli feel about the world. I am clearly too young to have read the book but I loved what I heard about it and as an aspiring writer and actress, I am willing to push my boundaries in order to connect with characters. Reading through Luli’s point of view gave me an interesting view of life and Chloe is very lucky to be able to play her, it’s a role I’d die for!
—Audrey