ALEXANDRA ALESSANDRI is the author of several books for children, including Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela!; Isabel and Her Colores Go to School; The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía; Our World: Colombia; Lupita’s Hurricane Palomitas; and Grow Up, Luchy Zapata, which is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Fly, Pajarito, Fly! (Sleeping Bear Press) is her most recent book. In 2025, her short story Kaleidoscope was released in the young adult anthology of stories in verse, All the Love Under the Vast Sky. Her books have gone on to receive numerous distinctions, including the Florida Book Award, International Latino Book Award, Américas Award Commended Title, and the International Literacy Association’s 2022 Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Award in Primary Fiction. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, Alessandri is a former associate professor of English at Broward College, where she currently teaches as an adjunct professor, and an instructor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Extension Writers’ Program. She is also a freelance writer and poet, with some of her work appearing in Curriculum Associates, The Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, Atlanta Review, and Young Adult Review Network. She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Florida International University and a certificate in fiction writing from UCLA Extension. Alessandri’s experience growing up straddling both cultures often influences her children’s fiction and poetry. When not writing or teaching, she spends her time planning the next great adventure with her husband and son, with whom she lives in South Florida.
