About the Author:

Ilan Stavans is the publisher of Restless Books and the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. His books include On Borrowed Words, Spanglish, Dictionary Days, The Disappearance, and A Critic's Journey. He has edited The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, the three-volume set Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories, The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, among dozens of other volumes. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Chile's Presidential Medal, the International Latino Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award. Stavans's work, translated into twenty languages, has been adapted to the stage and screen. A cofounder of the Great Books Summer Program at Amherst, Stanford, Chicago, Oxford, and Dublin, he is the host of the NPR podcast "In Contrast."

About the Illustrator:

London based Salvadoran artist and illustrator Gabriela Larios received her Master of Arts from Camberwell College of Arts, UK in 2007 thanks to an Alban Scholarship. She creates whimsical and colourful collage illustrations that celebrate her deep love of children's books, textiles and folk art. Her creative world derives from her interest in storytelling and the natural world. There is a naive and playful spirit captured in her work and a strong connection between memories of her childhood in El Salvador and her body of work: tortoises, fish, plants, birds and all the colourful creatures and elements found in her art. Her work has been exhibited in London, Europe and abroad and has appeared in various international books and magazines.