Lulu Delacre
 

Meet Lulu


 

Beginnings

At the Condado Beach, PR 

At the Condado Beach, PR 

I create my books out of love and the conviction that they are sorely needed, and I’ve seen them succeed. I’ve measured their success in the proud smiles of many Latino children as they join hands with their schoolmates and myself, in the game song of Arroz con Leche. Or as we all sing vejigante chants behind paper masks when recreating a carnaval. For when these Latino children feel their classmate’s enjoyment of their own language and heritage, they know acceptance. They may even glimpse the value of retaining their parent’s traditions and tongue as they embrace new ones.

I was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, the middle child in a family of three daughters. My parents were from Argentina. Growing up in the island was a fun filled experience, where climbing up a tamarindo tree with a friend to eat its fruit, was as commonplace as hunting for tiny brown lizards. I used to gently open their mouths and hang them from my earlobes as earrings!

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My earliest recollections of drawing--I must have been five then--go back to my grandmother’s house. My grandma, Elena, was from Uruguay. She baby-sat my sister and me, in the second floor apartment of and old pink house, while my parents taught at the University of Puerto Rico. She would give me white sheets of paper in which I would draw as I lay on the floor of her bedroom and listened to the classical records she played. I don’t remember her ever throwing away one of my pictures. She kept them neatly piled in a corner of her closet.

I had my first formal art training when I was ten, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we lived for a year while my father was on sabbatical. There, one of my mother’s friends, a fine artist and teacher, encouraged me to join one of her painting classes. She was the first of several instructors who taught me to draw from real life and with whom I discovered the immense joy of being able to create.

At the time I entered the Fine Arts department of the University of Puerto Rico I knew I wanted a career in art. Later on I was accepted into Penninghen, in Paris, France. By the time I did my masters’ thesis, an audio-visual project illustrating Saint Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, I knew I wanted to become an illustrator of children’s books. I dreamed of creating books inspired by my heritage, books that celebrate the rich folklore and colorful traditions I was nurtured with as a child, books in English and in Spanish.

Being an author/ illustrator is the most challenging and rewarding work I’ve ever done. I strive to achieve a high standard in both text and art, a draining task and times. So with each new book I eagerly await the moment when I can see the many parts come together in a cohesive whole. 

I delight in creating books that portray my own culture with authenticity in both words and pictures. And if painting Latinos true to their own beauty, fosters respect; or if sharing some of their stories builds bridges among children, I want to keep on doing it. Because for me, that is the true measure of success. ¡Viva nuestra herencia!

 
 
 

MEDIA

lulu@LuluDElacre.com

Latest Release

 

From a New York Times bestselling and Pura Belpré Honor–winning creator comes a heartwarming picture book celebrating essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic that’s also a lively, bilingual game of Veo, Veo (I Spy).

Marisol’s mami is the best cook at Rosita’s Cafe! But now, the restaurant is closed. A bad virus—too easy to catch in small, crowded places—is going around.

Marisol, Pepito, and Mami still need to go out to bring Mami’s arroz con pollo to housebound Tía Olga and Cousin Johnny. As Marisol and Pepito watch the people working around the neighborhood, who their mother explains have essential work, Marisol thinks of the perfect game to play:

Veo, veo…

¿Qué ves, Marisol?

I spy…a trash collector. Essential work. Those bins were full!

By the time they get home, Marisol has another idea: a way to show the people in her neighborhood that she sees them!

 

MEDIA PHOTOS

Click on an image below to download

©Paul Morigi/HMH

©Paul Morigi/HMH

 
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SPEAKING TOPICS

From idea to bound book

Heritage as source of inspiration 

Research: key for GREAT fiction, non-fiction AND ART

Every book is a journey 

Not All Art is Created Equal: Choosing a Style to Enhance a Manuscript

 
 

Short Bio

Three-time Pura Belpré Award honoree Lulu Delacre has been writing and illustrating children's books since 1980. The New York Times Bestselling artist was born and raised in Puerto Rico to Argentinean parents. Delacre says her Latino heritage and her life experiences inform her work. Her many titles include Arroz con Leche: Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America, a Horn Book Fanfare Book in print for over 30 years. Her bilingual picture book ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! Descubriendo el bosque nublado; Olinguito, from A to Z! Unveiling the Cloud Forest and her story collection  Us, in Progress: Short Stories About Young Latinos have received multiple starred reviews and awards. Among her latest works are the art of Turning Pages by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Cool Green: Amazing, Remarkable Trees and Veo, Veo, I See You. Delacre has lectured internationally and served as a juror for the National Book Awards. She has exhibited at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, The Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York, the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, and the Zimmerli Art Museum among other venues. Reading is Fundamental honored her with a Champion of Children’s Literacy Award. For more visit her at www.luludelacre.com.

 
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