We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marta Magellan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marta below.
Marta, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.
I arrived here from Brazil at the age of seven, and within a year, I learned how to read well . However, I didn’t own any books until the Christmas I turned nine, when someone gave me a children’s novel. I had only been taken to the picture book section of the libraries, and until then, I had never read an entire novel. It was the beginning of a love affair with reading, which eventually became my career. I taught English Composition and Creative Writing as a full professor at Miami Dade College. Always wanting to make sure other children who may not own books have an opportunity to do so, I donate copies of books at every event I am involved with, such as Multicultural Children’s Book Day, libraries, and schools.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As a fan of nature, books, and children, my love for all three has sent me on a delightful path as a children’s book author. Although as a professor of English, I have been involved with writing and literature for all my working life, I have made writing for children a second career. A former English professor at Miami Dade College, I taught Creative Writing, Composition, and Survey of Children’s Literature. I write mostly about wildlife and their importance to the environment we live in, so most of my picture books are nonfiction. I have received accolades from the Florida Book Awards, California Reading Association, Green Earth Book Awards and others. Good reviews of my work have been published in School Library Journal, Family Magazine, Boston Review of Books, and others.
Many of my books have been written in collaboration with my brother, illustrator Mauro Magellan.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My mission as a children’s book author is to teach very young children about their world either through fiction or nonfiction. Besides, the information in the books themselves, I do live presentations in which I show them pictures of the subject, such as “invasive species” or “exotic pet crisis,” have contests in which I give away free books, and in general, impart information in an interactive manner.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I can’t call my brother, illustrator Mauro Magellan, my business partner, but I can call him my main collaborator. With the a few exceptions, most of my books have been illustrated by him. Because he’s my brother, I’ve seen him bloom as an artist from when he was seven and began drawing birds. As a matter of fact, one of the most beautiful set of illustrations he did was for my Flying Jewels: A Hummingbird Story. He is an extremely talented artist, who builds, writes, and composes as well as draws, and I am very lucky to have him in the family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://martamagellan.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marta.magellan
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-magellan-a5647631/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartaMagellan
Image Credits
James Gersing, photographer