By Llyr Heller
FROM: LAPL Blog

Mirelle Ortega is a Mexican illustrator and writer for kidlit and Animation based in Los Angeles, CA. She’s created covers for award-winning middle-grade series such as From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Cece Rios and Love Sugar Magic, artwork for acclaimed chapter books series such as The Mythics, Vote for Effie, Mermaids Rock, and vibrant illustrations for picture books like Small Room, Big Dreams, Pepe and the Parade and her author/illustrator debut Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Land.

Mirelle Ortega will be one of the featured authors at the Los Angeles Libros Festival, a free bilingual book festival for the whole family. L.A. Libros Fest will be streamed live on YouTube on Friday, September 23, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. The Festival will be in-person at Central Library in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, September 24, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with select Saturday programs streamed live on YouTube.

Our tagline this year is Read, Dream and Celebrate en dos idiomas. How do you think your books and stories help us accomplish this? / El tema del festival este año es Read, Dream and Celebrate (lee, sueña y celebra) en dos idiomas. ¿Cómo crees que tus libros e historias nos ayudan a lograr esto?

I think stories really open up our imagination and our hearts, they help us understand foreign perspectives, and they dare us to dream big impossible dreams. I know for sure whenever I write something, I am trying to celebrate something I love, to offer it up to the reader so that they can love it too. I think one way we built a better world is by finding ourselves constantly excited about the world around us, by seeing problems as opportunities and everyday things as magical.

Creo que las historias despiertan nuestra imaginación y nuestros corazones, nos ayudan a entender perspectivas ajenas y nos ayudan a soñar sueños imposibles. Cuando yo escribo siempre estoy tratando de celebrar algo que amo, trato de mostrárselo al lector para que ellos también puedan tenerle cariño. Siento que esa es la mejor manera que tenemos para construir un mundo mejor, tenerle cariño a las cosas, ver problemas como oportunidades y entender las cosas cotidianas como actos de magia. Read Rest of Interview Here