Sara Fajardo

Sara A. Fajardo is a founding member of #LatinxPitch for KidLit. Her US debut picture book, Paka Paka Con La Papa: Alberto Salas Plays Potato Hide-and-Seek, illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Juana Martinez-Neal releases in 2024 by Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan. The story is about one of the world’s most successful plant collectors, who travels across the America on a lifelong quest to help feed the world through protecting potato biodiversity. Her second book, Crack Goes the Cascarón, illustrated by Rocio ArreolaMendoza releases in 2025 from Knopf Books for Young Readers. More exciting picture books news coming soon!

When Sara first moved to the United States from her native Peru, her spoken English vocabulary consisted of just one word “monkey.” Thanks to Alisal Elementary, a bilingual school in Salinas, California, she not only expanded her vocabulary she was taught to celebrate her mixed heritage. It was there where she also learned the power of her words after a teacher, Ms. Stewart, turned one of her stories about the Easter Bunny into a play that became part of the English language curriculum.

That started her on a lifelong path of telling stories—first as a photojournalist, then as a multimedia storyteller for humanitarian aid and agricultural research organizations, and now as a writer for children. Her words and camera have taken her across Latin America, Africa, and deep into the world of plant breeding and conservation agriculture. These experiences have deepened her commitment to our common humanity and have taught her that the only thing that separates us is our circumstances. 

The daughter of an American mother (a bilingual teacher) and a Peruvian father (a retired professor of Quechua), Sara strives to tell multicultural stories that help underrepresented children see themselves and that enable children to connect with other cultures. She grew up in an agricultural community in Central California, and has lived in Finland, Japan, and Kenya. Sara currently resides in the Bay Area where she teaches at a Dual Immersion School and lives with her husband and two children. She is on the Writing Barn’s DEI committee and an SCBWI member.

Visit Sara online at sarafajardo.com and on Twitter/Instagram @safajarwrites.