Charlotte Latin was honored to host internationally-acclaimed, award-winning author Pablo Cartaya in Anne's Black Box Theater on Friday. Middle School students laughed—maybe some will admit they cried, too—during Pablo's entertaining and touching commentary. Holding their attention with comedic retellings of relatable (and cringy) moments from Middle School, Pablo spoke to the heart of storytelling, family, culture, and how he became an author. 

"My abuela was my first storyteller, and she would tell me these stories en español... about her life in Cuba... so español is the language I connect to storytelling," Pablo said.

Describing the special connection he had with his beloved grandmother, he shared how difficult it was to lose her when he was in the fourth grade. "Not only did she pass away, but I moved to a completely new place for 4th and 5th. Then I got into Middle School... I was the only Cuban-American kid in my entire grade. The only Spanish-speaking kid." 

In the midst of trying to figure out how he felt about himself, Pablo received his first creative writing assignment: Write the superhero of your own story, as you see yourself. What would your superhero look like? 

But Pablo couldn't imagine himself as the hero of his own story. He wrote about a character that was opposite of everything he was: tall with long flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. The character's name was even backwards to his own—Olbap.

As he continued to write, read more books, and figure out more about himself, Pablo later reflected, "You know, in Middle School, I really didn't feel good about who I was… even though I had fun! And I thought, 'If I were to write a story for my 6th grade self, what would that story look like?' And what happened was, I started bringing my family into it—my community, my culture, and my abuela—and I set them all in Middle School to almost reset the experience I felt about not loving my culture, my community, my name."

"We believe that these visits have an immeasurable impact on our students' appreciation of the craft of writing, their belief that they too can be authors, and their knowledge of award winning literature," said CLS Head Librarian Emily Long. "Author visits help connect their classroom to the wider world and allow them to understand the process through which books are created from inception to publication."

In the Q&A segment, one student asked Pablo if the passing of his grandmother affected his writing. He replied affirmatively and added, "I wrote a story about the abuela passing away when the main character was 14, instead of 4th grade like I was, and I think that was – in a way – to give myself more time with my grandmother." 

For Pablo, writing is healing, as well as a means for preserving his heritage and claiming his voice. When he was caught between identities—caught between worlds—writing bridged the gap and created a home where he belonged. 

Pablo Cartaya is the recipient of the 2018 Pura Belpré Honor and the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor. He is an author, speaker, screenwriter, educator, and "occasional actor" whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and on Oprah’s Booklist. He is the author of the acclaimed novels: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, Each Tiny Spark, and The Last Beekeeper.