Early College High School senior and student author Katelynn Renteria was recently recognized as a Silver Book Award recipient in the 2017 Literary Classics International Book Awards. This award came after being selected as a Book Award Finalist in the 2017 Literary Classics.
Her book, “The Other Side of the Law”, was selected from submissions by entrants around the globe, these distinguished honorees are recognized for their contributions to the craft of writing, illustrating, and publishing exceptional literature for a youth audience. In this highly competitive industry these books represent the foremost in literature in their respective categories.
“It is the greatest accomplishment of my life thus far, aside from publishing my book,” Renteria said. “I feel honored and hold a tremendous gratitude to my family, friends, and teachers both past and present who believed in a small-town Harlingen girl that had a dream to write.”
All Silver, Gold and Top Honors award recipients will be invited to attend a writers’ conference, awards ceremony, formal gala, and other related events in Rapid City, South Dakota, to be held in conjunction with the Great American Book Festival, Labor Day Weekend, 2017.
“The Other Side of the Law” was published on June 13, 2016. The book was a Top Selling Title on the publisher’s site for the first weeks upon its release, and held its popularity on social media with positive reviews from readers.
At the closing of her local book publisher, Sarah Book Publishing, Renteria began looking into becoming a self-published author. She is currently in the production phase of self-publishing her book with a company from Colorado.
“It is scary being 17 and taking on such a task, but my love and passion for writing is far greater than the fear of the unknown,” Renteria said. “I’m creating a new book cover and author website, and by the fall of 2017, my book will have worldwide availability on amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon Kindle e-book. It will also be assigned a Library of Congress Number to allow my book to be cataloged in the U.S library system.”
Renteria is currently working on the sequel to “The Other Side of the Law”.
“The sequel to the novel is almost finished,” Renteria said. “I plan to self-publish this second book as well. Managing high school, college classes, self- publishing, author presentations, and book signings keeps me so very busy. What keeps me going is all the readers that have asked me when the second book is coming out, and knowing that I can still advance and continue to accomplish great things.”
Wow! What an honor! Congratulations to you and everyone who had a part in this award. Harlingen is so proud to have Katelynn as a wonderful example of a literate student in our school system.