To be honest, I never studied to be a writer, neither am I a journalist nor I do know a lot about literature. I just know that I have a lot of imagination, a great vocation, that I love words, that I love telling stories (written or drawn), and that I am very interested in children and young people’s interests, thoughts and feelings. I’m a designer, profession that demands on me to be persistent. Not leaving anything halfway is my only rule, no matter how long it takes.

My nephew hated eating. One day his mom asked me to take care of him while she went out. It happened that it was just lunch time, and that day’s menu was “lentils and chorizo”, a typical chilean dish. When the kid, named Baltasar, looked at his plate, he closed his mouth tightly. Trying to persuade him to eat, I began to tell him the story of a boy whose name was his own, who instead of having lunch preferred the sweets at a nearby store… Baltasar enjoyed very much the story, and as he listened, he inadvertently ate the lentils. So, I decided to write it down, because if my nephew had enjoyed the story that much, maybe other kids would too! 

Myself! Just as I like to write, I also love to draw, for as long as I can remember.

It was a long process! At that time, my daughter was very little. I worked long hours a day, and when I returned home from work, I just wanted to spend time with her. So, I did the writing when she was sleeping, at night. It was like that for a whole year, until I finished my first manuscript.

The word “ambrosia” means “something delightful to the taste or smell.” Since the story is about a world whose inhabitants are beings who grow delightful vegetables on their heads, I found the word “Ambrosia” very funny to name it, a delicious and delightful world.

The truth is that while I was writing The Amazing Ambrosia’s second book, researching certain information on the internet, I found news about Syria’s civil war. I was very moved by the children who have been displaced by it, the refugees, and the devastation it has caused in the country and its people. I was too sad, so I stopped writing that book, which has a lot humor, since I was no longer in that mood. And for several days I could write nothing but stories of war with happy endings, just wondering. Then I understood that war never has a happy ending. Thinking in those children who live in the middle of that horror, I began to write again, searching in my heart for a way to tell the story of two kids, that despite of adversity, end up as happy as they can.

The great artist, and super friend of mine, Paulina Silva Chala did. 

Naming characters is one of the things I enjoy the most when I write.

In “The Amazing Ambrosia” books, each character has a name and a surname, which their first letter is the same so that they can be easily remembered. Surnames stand for the fruit or vegetable which the character represent. For example, Tina Tangerine, or Spike Spinach. I also have to like them a lot!

In the case of “Forever, Noura”, we just know the main character’s name: Noura. I chose it because it means “light”, and war is nothing more than darkness.

I identify myself with Ornella Onion, because she is super sensitive, dreamy, a little crazy, and very exaggerated, just like me.

I have two favorite books: “The Little Prince”, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, by Gabriel García Márquez.

Good news! Working on it.

That children and young people are the most interesting human beings, that their feelings are extremely important, that everything they do is relevant, and that the future of humanity depends on their happiness and stability. I just want to write for them. Children are the engine of the world. 

Anywhere my family is with me, particularly, home.