Natalia Sylvester is the Pura Belpré and Schneider Family honor winning author of the young adult novel Breathe and Count Back from Ten, and the award-winning author of the young adult novel Running, which was a 2020 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2021 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List selection. She is also the author of the adult novels Everyone Knows You Go Home and Chasing the Sun. Her first picture book A Maleta Full of Treasures, (2024) illustrated by Juana Medina, is a warm, gentle ode to cherished visits from grandparents and the people and places that make us who we are even if we haven’t met them yet.
Natalia’s non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, Bustle, Catapult, Electric Literature, Latina magazine, and McSweeney’s Publishing. Her essays have been anthologized in collections such as A Map is Only One Story and A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South. During Latinx Heritage month, Natalia would love to emphasize the focus on the intersections of being Latina, an immigrant, and disabled, since disability is something that is often left out of the diversity conversation.
Born in Lima, Peru, Natalia came to the US at age four and grew up in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. She received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami, was a 2021 Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was formerly a faculty member at the Mile-High MFA program at Regis University.
“Natalia Sylvester is a must have speaker for your school! Her story certainly appeals to teenagers! Natalia took the time to create specific presentation for our different audiences – our AP students and our Book Club members. Each presentation was detailed, thoughtful, and insightful. Natalia provided an opportunity for questions and answers, and our students lined up to meet her/get autographs at the end of the session.” — Pace High School, 2024
