Angela Cervantes is the author of popular novels Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring, Gaby, Lost and Found, Allie, First at Last, and Lety Out Loud, which won a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Award. In addition to her own original novels, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar’s animated-film, Coco. Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she is not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays everywhere she goes.
Career Highlights
- Angela, with Chicana poetry group Las Poetas, opened for El Vez at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City in 2001
- Angela’s short story, Pork-Chop Sandwiches is published in “Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul” in 2005
- Angela won third place for Creative Nonfiction in the 2007 Missouri Review’s audio competition for her story “House of Women”
- Angela’s short story “Ten Hail Marys” wins the Kansas City Voices Best of Prose Award (Whispering Prairie Press) for 2007
- In 2008, Angela was named one of Kansas City Star Magazine’s Emerging Artists
- Angela read an excerpt from Gaby, Lost and Found, on the Unicorn Theatre stage for their “Women who write” exhibit in 2013
- Gaby, Lost and Found is published by Scholastic on July 29, 2013
- Allie, First at Last is published by Scholastic on March 30, 2016
- Coco: The Junior Novel is published by Disney Random House on October 10, 2017
- Angela attends the Hollywood premiere of the Disney/Pixar movie, Coco, on November 9, 2017
- Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is published by Scholastic Press on March 27, 2018
- Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is named as a finalist for the Texas Bluebonnet Master List (2019-2020)
- Lety Out Loud is published by Scholastic Press on February 26, 2019
- On January 27, 2020, Lety Out Loud is named a Pura Belpre Honor Book Award by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.
