About
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Short BioAida Salazar is an award-winning author and arts activist whose writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice. She is the author of the middle grade verse novels, THE MOON WITHIN (International Latino Book Award Winner), THE LAND OF THE CRANES (September 15, 2020), and the bio picture book JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER (Spring, 2022). All published by Scholastic. She is slated to co-edit with Yamile Saied Méndez, CALLING THE MOON: A middle grade anthology on menstruation by writers of color (Candlewick Press 2022). She is a founding member of Las Musas - a Latinx kidlit debut author collective. Her story, BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON, was adapted into a ballet production by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history. She lives with her family of artists in a teal house in Oakland, CA.
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Long Bio
Aida Salazar is an award-winning author and arts activist whose writings explore issues of identity and social justice. She was born in Mexico and grew up in a family of seven children in Southeast Los Angeles where she spent many days sitting in little puddles of water on cement believing she was in the ocean.
Her critically acclaimed and award-winning debut middle grade novel in verse, THE MOON WITHIN (Scholastic), has been hailed as "Important" by the New York Times; as "a worthy successor to Are You There God? It's Me Margaret" by Kirkus Reviews; as "revolutionary and culturally ecstatic" by Juan Felipe Herrera (US Poet Laureate); won an International Latino Book Award for Middle Grade Fiction, a Golden Poppy Award, a Nerdy Book Award, a Notable Poetry and Verse Novel Award and Charlotte Huck Honor by NCTE, and an Américas Award honor; it received four starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and BookPage; was named a best book of 2019 by NPR's Book Concierge, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, New York Public Library, The Center for Multicultural Children's Literature, Penn State Graduate School of Education and a best book of the decade by Ellen Hagan for School Library Journal. It was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, KPFA's "Hard Knock Radio," on "Making Contact" and the "Feeling My Flow" podcast. The Moon Within was printed in paperback as part of Scholastic's exclusive Gold line of award-winning books and has been translated into Spanish by Alberto Jiménez Rioja.
She is also the author of the forthcoming novel in verse, THE LAND OF THE CRANES (September 15, 2020) - a story about a little girl and her pregnant mother who are caged in an immigration detention facility. The book has already gained a starred reviews from KIRKUS who called it, "powerful... lyrical... soaring..." and another starred review by Publisher's Weekly who called it "Lyrical, passionate, and all-too timely." It was a BookCon 2020 Middle Grade Buzz Book and was featured on the Cultural Frontline on the BBC's World Service's program Cultural Impact.
Her debut picture book based on the life of her distant great aunt, Jovita Valdovinos, JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER, will be illustrated by Molly Mendoza and published in Spring 2022. She is co-editing with Yamile Saied Méndez, CALLING THE MOON: A Middle Grade anthology on menstruation by writers of color (Candlewick Press 2022). Her story, By the Light of the Moon, was adapted into a ballet production by choreographer, Isabelle Sjahsam, and artist, Roberto Miguel, for the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and premiered in April 2016. It is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history.
With an MFA in Writing from the California Institute of the Arts, she has performed/read at cultural centers, cafes, alternative art spaces and universities throughout the Southwest and Latin America. She has taught visual art, poetry and fiction to students of all ages. Her writings have appeared in publications such as the Huffington Post, Huizache Magazine, Voices of Our Ancestors: Xicanx and Latinx Spiritual and Healing Practices, Latina Struggles and Protest in the 21st Century USA, and Women and Performance: Journal of Feminist Theory. She was a fellow at Hedgebrook Writer’s Colony, Community of Writer’s Workshop at Squaw Valley, Macondo Workshop, is an alumni of the Op-Ed Project’s Write to Change the World Program and a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is a founding member of Las Musas, the first collective of debut Latinx authors in US children's literature.
She has also produced festivals, events, protests, artist residencies, and conferences for a range of groups, non-profits, youth and popular movements. She sits on the board of two non-profit organizations, CubaCaribe and BrasArte. She consulted in the planning and design of cultural spaces including LA's Grand Park and La Plaza de Cultura & Arte in Los Angeles.
She lives in a teal house in Oakland, CA with her husband, Latin jazz musician, John Santos and her two fiery artist children whom she homeschooled until they were each in the fifth grade. She is at work on a collection of essays on healing and many children’s stories. Her literary agent is Marietta Zacker of Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.
Her critically acclaimed and award-winning debut middle grade novel in verse, THE MOON WITHIN (Scholastic), has been hailed as "Important" by the New York Times; as "a worthy successor to Are You There God? It's Me Margaret" by Kirkus Reviews; as "revolutionary and culturally ecstatic" by Juan Felipe Herrera (US Poet Laureate); won an International Latino Book Award for Middle Grade Fiction, a Golden Poppy Award, a Nerdy Book Award, a Notable Poetry and Verse Novel Award and Charlotte Huck Honor by NCTE, and an Américas Award honor; it received four starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and BookPage; was named a best book of 2019 by NPR's Book Concierge, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, New York Public Library, The Center for Multicultural Children's Literature, Penn State Graduate School of Education and a best book of the decade by Ellen Hagan for School Library Journal. It was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, KPFA's "Hard Knock Radio," on "Making Contact" and the "Feeling My Flow" podcast. The Moon Within was printed in paperback as part of Scholastic's exclusive Gold line of award-winning books and has been translated into Spanish by Alberto Jiménez Rioja.
She is also the author of the forthcoming novel in verse, THE LAND OF THE CRANES (September 15, 2020) - a story about a little girl and her pregnant mother who are caged in an immigration detention facility. The book has already gained a starred reviews from KIRKUS who called it, "powerful... lyrical... soaring..." and another starred review by Publisher's Weekly who called it "Lyrical, passionate, and all-too timely." It was a BookCon 2020 Middle Grade Buzz Book and was featured on the Cultural Frontline on the BBC's World Service's program Cultural Impact.
Her debut picture book based on the life of her distant great aunt, Jovita Valdovinos, JOVITA WORE PANTS: THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTER, will be illustrated by Molly Mendoza and published in Spring 2022. She is co-editing with Yamile Saied Méndez, CALLING THE MOON: A Middle Grade anthology on menstruation by writers of color (Candlewick Press 2022). Her story, By the Light of the Moon, was adapted into a ballet production by choreographer, Isabelle Sjahsam, and artist, Roberto Miguel, for the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and premiered in April 2016. It is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history.
With an MFA in Writing from the California Institute of the Arts, she has performed/read at cultural centers, cafes, alternative art spaces and universities throughout the Southwest and Latin America. She has taught visual art, poetry and fiction to students of all ages. Her writings have appeared in publications such as the Huffington Post, Huizache Magazine, Voices of Our Ancestors: Xicanx and Latinx Spiritual and Healing Practices, Latina Struggles and Protest in the 21st Century USA, and Women and Performance: Journal of Feminist Theory. She was a fellow at Hedgebrook Writer’s Colony, Community of Writer’s Workshop at Squaw Valley, Macondo Workshop, is an alumni of the Op-Ed Project’s Write to Change the World Program and a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is a founding member of Las Musas, the first collective of debut Latinx authors in US children's literature.
She has also produced festivals, events, protests, artist residencies, and conferences for a range of groups, non-profits, youth and popular movements. She sits on the board of two non-profit organizations, CubaCaribe and BrasArte. She consulted in the planning and design of cultural spaces including LA's Grand Park and La Plaza de Cultura & Arte in Los Angeles.
She lives in a teal house in Oakland, CA with her husband, Latin jazz musician, John Santos and her two fiery artist children whom she homeschooled until they were each in the fifth grade. She is at work on a collection of essays on healing and many children’s stories. Her literary agent is Marietta Zacker of Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency.
Photo Credit: Lluvia Higuera