Luisana Duarte Armendáriz is a children’s book author and translator that hails from Ciudad Juárez, México, the most fabulous and beautiful border city in the world (Juan Gabriel’s words, not hers). She holds a dual master’s degree in Children’s Literature and Writing for Children from Simmons College. Currently, she’s at the University of Connecticut, working towards an English Ph.D. and teaching First-Year-Writing.

Luisana has had a love affair with literature since she was a little girl. She loved going to the libraries in El Paso, TX, even though her library card read ‘Lupsana’ (her mom claims the typo was through no fault of her own). Her childhood—filled by Leo Lionni, Amelia Bedelia, and Hogwarts—inspired her to create books for children so that they may also fall in love with stories.

Some useless facts about Luisana:

  • Her favorite color is teal (a grayish teal).
  • Whenever she travels, she tries to have one ‘fancy’ dinner by herself (call it self-pampering, if you will).
  • In all of her life, she has only been able to knit a single sock (people keep trying to get her to knit more).
  • She doesn’t have an appendix anymore (she misses it sometimes).

Luisana is also a graphic designer, but rarely get the chance to apply her skills nowadays.