South Florida Author Brad Meltzer Inspired Two Sisters To Launch Their Writing Careers
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite were all smiles when they were recently thrust into the national spotlight to promote their new book.
The North Miami Beach High School grads, and authors, got to pitch their second book during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
"You are sisters, and you collaborate and write books together, this is your second one," Meyers said in introducing them.
The sister's latest collaboration is "One of the Good Ones," a story about the death of a young activist whose friends embark on a journey across America to explore what version of being Black is deemed acceptable to white society.
"Folks might think 'oh, they ripped the story from the headlines'. We wrote this all beforehand," said Maika Moulite.
Long before the deaths of Briana Taylor and George Floyd spurred nationwide demonstrations, the Moulite sisters were readers who were encouraged to do so by their parents, but "there were not a lot of stories about us. We would have loved to have had a story like this one, more stories about Black people, of all types, lots of different emotions, opinions, and points of view," said Maritza Moulite.
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The sisters' credit local uber author and TV host Brad Meltzer with help in launching their carriers. It all started with a stop at North Miami Beach, of which Meltzer is a graduate.
"Two years ago, I got an email and it said 'Dear Brad, we are Maria and Maritza Moulite, we went to North Miami Beach High School and we were in the audience when you came to school. We just want you to know that when you were there, a real author, it made us believe we could become authors ourselves'," Meltzer recalled.
On that day, 15 years ago, Meltzer gave out 3,000 copies of one of his books. The Moulite sisters received their copies, launching a writing career that is just now taking off.
Meltzer and the sisters remain in contact, they even appeared together at a Books and Books signing event in Miami.
When they are not writing, the sisters are consumed with finishing their degrees. One is a Ph.D. student at Howard University, while the other is working toward her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.
