Conversation With 2021 RI Children’s Latino Book Award Winners , Megan & Jorge Lacera, Moderated By Anika Aldumay Denise, Award Winning RI Children’s Book Author (Day Event)
Una Conversación Con Los Ganadores Del 2021 Ri Children’s Latino Book Award Megan Y Jorge Lacera, Moderada Por Anika Aldumay Denise, Autora Ganadora Del Ri Children’s Book Award  (Evento En La Tarde)
Megan and Jorge Lacera are the authors of the 2021 RI Children’s Latino Book Award winning book, Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! ¡Los zombies no comen verduras! Jorge Lacera was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. As a big fan of pop culture, comics, and zombie movies, Jorge rarely saw Latinx kids as the heroes or leads. He is committed to changing that, especially now that he has a son. He is a co-founder of #LatinxPitch, a pitch event aimed at increasing Latinx representation in publishing. Jorge is the illustrator of the upcoming XO, Exoplanet written by Deborah Underwood, as well as his next collaboration, The Wild Ones with Megan Lacera.

Megan Lacera grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, with a book always in her hands. She became a writer and creator of characters and worlds for entertainment companies like American Greetings, Hasbro, and Goldieblox and later formed her own creative company. After reading many stories to their son, Megan realized that very few books reflected a family like theirs -multicultural, bilingual, funny, and imperfect. She decided to change that by writing her own stories. Her debut picture book Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! ¡Los zombies no comen verduras! is the winner of multiple awards and was the first bilingual story selected for the Storyline Online platform. Her next collaboration with partner Jorge Lacera is The Wild Ones; it hits shelves in Fall 2022.

Megan y Jorge Lacera son los autores de la obra ganadora del 2021 RI Children’s Latino Book Award, Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! ¡Los zombies no comen verduras! Jorge Lacera nació en Barranquilla, Colombia y emigró a Miami, Estados Unidos, de niño. Como gran aficionado de la cultura popular, los comics y las películas de zombies, observó que la juventud latinx raramente aparecía retratada en papeles de héroe en estas creaciones. Jorge se ha comprometido a cambiar esta situación, especialmente ahora que tiene un hijo. Jorge es co-fundador #LatinxPitch, un evento de lanzamiento editorial cuya intención es incrementar la representación latinx en este mercado. Es el ilustrador de las nuevas obras, XO, Exoplanet por Deborah Underwood y The Wild Ones en colaboración con Megan Lacera.

Megan Lacera creció en las afueras de Cleveland, Ohio, con un libro siempre entre sus manos. Trabajó como escritora y creadora de mundos y personajes de ficción para las compañías de entretenimiento American Greetings, Hasbro y Goldieblox, para más tarde formar la suya propia. Tras leer infinidad de historias a su hijo, Megan se dio cuenta que muy pocos libros reflejaban su entorno familiar -multicultural, bilingüe, divertido e imperfecto. Decidió cambiar esta situación y escribir sus propias historias. Ha debutado con su cuento ilustrado Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! ¡Los zombies no comen verduras!, ganador de premios multiples y la primera historia bilingüe seleccionada para la plataforma Storyline Online. Su nueva creación The Wild Ones, en colaboración con su compañero Jorge Lacera, saldrá al mercado en el otoño 2022.

Presented with additional support from Rhode Island Center for the Book and the Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors.

Feria del Libro y las Artes de Providence 2021 is presented by Providence Community Library and Providence College, with event partners  Rhode Island Center for the Book and Pawtucket Public Library.  This event is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a generous grant from City of Providence Department of Arts, Culture + Tourism.