Lydia San Andres (She/Her) lives and writes in the tropics, where she can be found reading, sipping coffee, and making excuses to stay out of the sun. As much as she enjoys air conditioning, she can sometimes be lured outside with the promise of cookies and picnics.
She writes historical romances set in the Caribbean with Latinx characters who are much more fond of the tropical heat than she is.
Represented by Sarah Younger at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
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Now that the formalities are out of the way, allow me to talk a little more about myself…
My family lived in Puerto Rico for a while when I was little, but I mostly grew up in the Dominican Republic—where I still live—with my nose perennially stuck in a book.
Like I told my sister the other day, I was a Little Women, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, I Capture The Castle girly and I never grew out of it. I’m not into cottage core, but I live for an ~*Aesthetic. Give me florals, give me cake and tea (oh okay, cinnamon-cardamom lattes), give me frilly dresses and large straw hats.
(I was also a Baby-sitter’s Club and Sweet Valley FIEND. I still have all my copies and reread them every couple of years.)
When I wasn’t reading, I was probably online—either on LiveJournal, reading fan fiction, or on the message boards where I played text-based roleplaying games and honed my writing skills.
I was always the artsy kid, too, and spent a lot of time in art classes, mostly painting in oils. Maybe that’s why it made sense to get my bachelors degree in Architectural Design. I worked as an interior designer for only a couple of years before fleeing to Spain for a master’s degree in Art History, which I followed by a few years of working as a historical researcher before absconding to New York City for another master’s degree, this one in Museum Studies.
All of that to end up writing romance novels full time.
Who knows, though. Maybe my research into the history of poster design and exhibition design in world’s fairs (the subjects of my two theses) will eventually make it into my books. (I mean I did also write a lot of papers on Singer Sargent, Whistler, Oscar Wilde’s and the aestheticism movement and a lot of other fun art historical scandals, all of which make really good romance novel fodder.)
For now, though, I’m having a lot of fun writing the books I am writing…
Which, let’s face it, mostly means fighting against my horrible, horrible procrastination habit.
Unrelated—maybe I’ll take up oil painting again? I mean, it’s not like I’m on deadline or anything… (She writes, knowing that she has less than six weeks left to finish her current book.)
Lydia San Andres 