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About Joana       

​       For as long as Joana can remember, she wanted to be an artist of some kind. So, she became an architect. But once her first child was born, all the visits to the library, and the countless story times made Joana start dreaming of becoming a children’s book author. She had no idea how to start, so for seven years all she did was collect story ideas on a little notebook. Finally, one Sunday afternoon she decided to sit down and write… Soon Joana discovered that writing children’s books isn’t easy. But she didn’t give up. She became a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), joined a critique group, made many writing friends, took classes, workshops, went to conferences, and did a lot of reading, writing and revising. One day, she sent out a story to an agent. The agent loved it and decided to help Joana share her stories with the world. And now here is Joana, still chasing her dream. But every day she gets a step closer to making it come true. Her debut picture book, LILLYBELLE, A DAMSEL NOT IN DISTRESS, illustrated by Jhon Ortiz, will be published by Boyds Mills Press on October 20, 2020. Her second book, BISA'S CARNAVAL, illustrated by Carolina Coroa, will be published in Fall/2021 by Scholastic.
        Originally from Brazil, Joana now lives in Florida with her amazing husband, her three extremely creative children and a rambunctious Morkie.

You can read her BookEnds Welcome interview here.

Follow her on:
​Twitter @jopastro
Instagram @joanapastro
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