Raquel Pidal

Raquel Beatriz Pidal has over two decades of editorial and publishing experience. After two years in publicity at Harvard University Press, she went on to serve as editorial director of Winans Kuenstler Publishing/Platform Press for eight years and managing editor of Wild River Books for four. They are the co-founder and managing editor of Tree of Life Consulting and Publishing. Raquel specializes in both fiction and nonfiction developmental book editing, copyediting, writing coaching, and independent publishing. She is a member of IBPA and has worked with clients such as Beacon Press, Westchester Publishing Services, Brandeis University Press, and Burgess Lea Press, an imprint of Quarto Books. 

Before attending Emerson College, Raquel was the program director and youth services director of The Writers Room of Bucks County, a nonprofit educational center for writers of all genres and levels of experience. She also cofounded and was managing editor of the online magazine Wild River Review. Raquel has ghostwritten two nonfiction books and received several awards and honors for her fiction and creative nonfiction. Their undergraduate thesis project, a memoir about her Cuban emigre family titled Mañana Mariposas/Butterflies Tomorrow, was awarded departmental honors by Ursinus College. Her teaching and research focus on meaningful inclusion and representation, accessibility, and cultural responsiveness in book publishing.