Pablo Cartaya

Yes! I love to travel around the country visiting schools, bookstores, and more. And I am so happy to be visiting communities in-person again!

I do! I do less running around than I do during my in-person visits, but they’re still just as fun!

During my in-person events, I give 45-minute presentations (each with a Q&A), do a book signing, and have lunch with students, faculty, and staff. Sometimes, the day can also include an evening event open to the community.

My presentations are more like shows! I don’t use PowerPoint or slides or anything like that. As I speak, I will code-switch (moving from Spanish to English) while using personal anecdotes to explain why I write what I write. Ultimately, events are a fun discussion about the ideas of family, culture, and community. Some kids have even called it stand-up with heart!

Virtual visits consist of a 45min meeting that includes a personal chat with the group and answering any questions. The time flies by and the kids really get something out of it.

The aim of my virtual visits is to have a conversation—one where the kids learn a bit about me, and I ask them questions about themselves. We laugh, we think, and, again, we learn about the three things I live for: family, culture, and community.

I’d love to discuss the possibility of visiting your school! Please reach out about visits using my event contact form. If you’re a kid, talk to your teacher or librarian!

Please fill out the event contact form and someone will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss possibilities. Looking forward to hearing from you!

My books are standalone, so you can read them in any order that you like! My first book was The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, and my most recent is Each Tiny Spark with a few more exciting titles coming soon!

My books are available anywhere books are sold. However, I love to suggest my local independent bookstore, Books and Books! You can find Books and Books purchase links on each book’s page.

¡Tengo un libro en español! El Épico Fracaso de Arturo Zamora. Y también está en audiobook en español. Y, como extra, yo ise la narración de la versión en español y también inglés! Woohoo, bilinguismo!!!

Heritage means knowing yourself. Understanding that you come from somewhere. That you have a history that can be claimed. I identify with my abuela and my abuelo’s Cuban history. The gifts they passed on to me have helped me better understand who I am. I carry them with me as a formation of my own identity.

Regularmente en inglés pero trato de hablar lo más posible en español. Especialmente con mis hijos! Prefiero vivir con los dos idiomas constantemente bailando juntos en mis conversaciones.

My heritage inspires everything about me creatively. It’s like air. You don’t question whether you need it to breathe, it’s an involuntary act done in order to survive. This is how I view my heritage - it gives me oxygen to breathe air into my creativity. It gives me life.

Mi herencia aparece en todos aspectos de mis obras. En los personajes (siempre tengo una abuelita en mis obras), el ambiente del escenario, hasta la propia comida! Mi herencia está en todo lo que escribo.

El regalo más grande que me ha brindado mi herencia es conocer a mis abuelos y todo lo que me enseñaron cuando estaban vivos. Me dieron el regalo más lindo que se puede dar a un nieto - historia. Con eso, pude entender quien soy.

I preserve my heritage as a writer by being unapologetic in showcasing my culture, family, and community in everything I write. I preserve my heritage by knowing that my voice matters. That my stories are worth telling.

I started writing as an act of discovering myself. Who I was. What I wanted to say. How I wanted to say it. My identity is very tied to my writing. I am a child of immigrants. I grew up in the United States and wanted more than anything to feel connected to both my Cuban heritage and my American one. Sometimes I felt lost in the middle of those identities. Like I didn’t fully belong in either. I guess writing was the way to bridge the gap between my two selves. To give me stories to claim. To have stories to share with people that might feel the same way. Like they’re caught between cultures not feeling like they truly belong in either. I think deep down, that’s what pushed me in the direction to write the kind of stories I write and continue to write. To discover and connect the bridges of my cultural identities - to make sense of the space I call home.

My writing process happens in this order: Wander aimlessly. Pause and get a little terrified cuz I’m lost. Hear a Voice. Find the Place. Write it down. Research. Revise. Revise. Revise. Release.

Let me explain.

Every book I write begins very much like wandering in the woods without a clear path or direction. Most of the time I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. Like, zero. I don’t outline. I don’t plot. I wander aimlessly. You know that Tolkien quote, “not all those who wander are lost?” Well, when it comes to starting a book project, I’m crazy lost. Like no idea what’s up. That’s real talk. It’s probably why I like writing long hand to begin my drafts. I think a great deal of discovery comes from seeing your thoughts come alive with a pen and a pad. I love scribbles and messy notes. Probably cuz my brain likes to work out the puzzles of my scribbles. That’s when I start organizing my thoughts more clearly.

I dedicate one notebook to each book project (usually a black Exceed notebook) and write whatever comes to mind. As I get deeper into the woods, questions begin to arise. I write those questions in the notebook and spend hours thinking about their meaning. This is the beginning of what I call the internal discovery of the novel. It’s typically when a voice pops onto the page. Then I ask more questions. Who is this person speaking? What does she want? What is she afraid of? What makes her happy? What makes her sad? Where does she live? Then a place emerges. That’s when I begin researching.

I research a lot. I mean, hours upon hours of research. I read articles, interview people, visit places, and watch a bazzilion hours of YouTube videos. FUN FACT: For the airport scene in Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, I watched a two hour YouTube video of a family flying from Miami to Puerto Rico and walking through Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and getting in a cab. And it was unedited! Then I flew to Puerto Rico to do research and chronicled my own flight and airport experience. This made up roughly one page of the entire novel! Like I said, I do a ton of research.

After research I revise, revise, and revise. This is crazy important. You remember that part I said earlier about the “internal discovery of the novel?” Well, revising helps you understand why you’ve written the story. We each have a story inside that wants to be told (whether you want to be an author or not). We each have a voice that wants to speak. Finding the voice is the first step. Understanding the voice comes in revision.

The last part seems obvious but it’s important to understand. There comes a point you have to channel your inner Elsa and just “Let it go”. Your teacher or your editor or whoever is going to get it next will help you through the next phase. But you have to send it off to get another set of eyes on the story.

Anyway, that’s how I more or less do things. It’s not perfect but it works for me. Maybe it will for you? Or, maybe you’re like, nah, I need to plot this story! That’s cool too. Whatever it is, make it comfortable for your style. Make it yours. You’re the one writing it, after all.