WRITER.
DIRECTOR.
STORYTELLER.
BY ASSIGNMENT.
ORIGIN STORY.
I’m originally from the borderland of El Paso, TX, leaving to study theater and film at Boston University, UT Austin, and England’s Cambridge University.
A dozen years in New York City saw me go from answering phones at Tina Brown’s TALK magazine to talking envelope-pushing with David Lynch for New York magazine. I covered music and movies for Vanity Fair, fashion and style for Vogue, contemporary art for Vice, and bleeding-edge pop culture for MTV, all while writing and performing an original off-Broadway show.
Missing the Great Southwest, I moved to Los Angeles, to cover Hollywood for Elle and Glamour, while penning my debut novel, Ana of California (Penguin), a Latinx modernization of Anne of Green Gables.
I recently made a short film about the struggle of motherhood and am currently developing works for the screen, writing for commission, and sweating all the details, proverbial taco in hand.
IN PRINT.
A modern take on the classic coming-of-age novel, inspired by Anne of Green Gables
In the grand tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport, Andi Teran’s captivating debut novel offers a contemporary twist on a beloved classic. Fifteen-year-old orphan Ana Cortez has just blown her last chance with a foster family. It’s a group home next—unless she agrees to leave East Los Angeles for a farm trainee program in Northern California.
When she first arrives, Ana can’t tell a tomato plant from a blackberry bush, and Emmett Garber is skeptical that this slight city girl can be any help on his farm. His sister Abbie, however, thinks Ana might be just what they need. Ana comes to love Garber Farm, and even Emmett has to admit that her hard work is an asset. But when she inadvertently stirs up trouble in town, Ana is afraid she might have ruined her last chance at finding a place to belong.
Kind Words About Ana of California
“Andi Teran’s first novel is vivid and fully realized, an entire universe expertly condensed into the pages you hold in your hands. Ana herself is a complicated delight, and by the end of the book I wanted to scoop her up into my arms.”
— EMMA STRAUB, New York Times bestselling author
“Debut fiction author Teran’s contemporary reimagining of Anne of Green Gables brilliantly captures the essence of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic story of a girl who will win your heart with her well-meaning imperfections. Highly recommended.”
— LIBRARY JOURNAL
“Our Hot Type recommendation.”
— VANITY FAIR
“What is so memorable about this novel is the reminder that happiness is a choice, a courageous and daring opportunity to express love for the things we value. At the outset we learn that Ana Cortez is an orphan, but as we live with her during one particular summer on Garber Farm we witness the creation of family before our eyes, and admire the passion, humility and valor of one of the most tender-hearted characters in literature today—a jewel of a book.”
— MARIO ALBERTO ZAMBRANO, author of Lotería
“One of the 15 best books of 2015 so far.”
— FLAVORWIRE
ON FILM.
Conclusion
Director
A short film based on the final chapter of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden — which opened California’s 2014 The Book Was Better Film Festival, in association with Oakland’s Book/Shop.
Neighbors
Writer, Director
A short film I made during the pandemic about a mother driven to her breaking point and the subsequent kindness of strangers was a finalist for AudPop.
Nina Simone’s Gum at the Royal Albert Hall
Co-director
A previously-unseen intimate performance from the legendary musician Warren Ellis, produced for Flaunt magazine to coincide with the Warren Ellis & Nick Cave Carnage world tour.
ETC.
— Select Press
I made an appearance in the New York Times Styles feature “Los Angeles and Its Booming Creative Class Lures New Yorkers,” was profiled by Girls At Library, and landed front-page on the Los Angeles Times Sunday section. Also, my cat is a magazine cover-star in Japan.
— Photo Projects
Two printed editions from my ongoing catalog of “Rock Monsters” are available on the California imprint, Archival Editions, here.
— Creative Mornings
I spoke about overcoming fear when faced with a blank page for the Los Angeles chapter of Creative Mornings. You can watch it here.