ABOUT The author/illustrator
Lina Cuestas Hill
How I Got Here:
As the first-generation American daughter of immigrant parents from two different continents--South America and Eastern Europe--I learned proper English from library books. While my parents went about the business of adapting to a new world that required they learn more than just a new language, as a 6-year-old, I just wanted to be able to talk to the kids across the street.
So, while sitting on the library floor sounding out words from Peanuts comic books for hours, I happily laughed at the funny drawings of a tightly knit group of kids my own age. I didn’t always know what each word actually meant, but I could slowly intuit the overall meaning of simple interactions between Lucy and Charlie Brown, Linus, and all the other wonderful Peanuts characters.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was using an instinctive process of mapping text to the art contained in each comic strip. By doing so, I started to discern the meanings of the words shaping the stories in these simple books.
So, who says kids can’t learn on their own? I did! I attribute part of my scholastic success to this early exposure to books.
Which Brings Me to Today:
I know that my toddler immersion into both the written and visual aspects of stories led to my current love of the Picture Book genre and to my involvement with it as a kidlit Author/Illustrator. As an adult now capable of creating beauty, it is important to me that I pass on this method of support that changed my own life early on. I know that other children, too, may need more than one way to process their experiences.
The ability to positively influence someone’s life—to give that person another way of looking at the world, perhaps, might be considered part of the human chain of experience. The hand that reached out to me when I so needed it might now become the hand that I hold out to the next person coming behind me. Together, in this way, we can expand human greatness.
We all have a story to tell from our own unique point of view and I believe that sharing our personal experiences through shared storytelling is one of our greatest personal powers. And so I tell my story. And I love hearing others' stories.
A Continuous Journey:
A few years ago, I quit my corporate career to dedicate my attention full time to creating beautiful books with kid hero/ines that would help every child see themselves in a powerful, positive way.
Before that, for the past decade, I had been learning the various aspects of the craft of writing for children by attending numerous writing workshops--and by actually writing and--this is important--getting critiqued on my writing with the intent of improving, improving, improving! I continue this iterative process of learn-and-do today, but now I've added my artwork into the mix.
As for how I approach my writing and art, it's important for me to feel the joy of creating something and to try to step out of the I have to do this thinking. So I play with words and sentence structures and phrases I think would be fun to chant out loud as a little Lina. I play with play-doh, crayons, pastels, pencils, watercolor and (super-fun) with cut-paper collage. And I've always loved digital collage--well before it became the current "thing". Some of my friends have 3D digital images of themselves as characters in exotic settings they've never visited--like Paris or Tahiti.
But enough about me for now. In the coming days, I plan to start sharing some more of my processes with you in my blog on this website. Thanks for coming with me on this journey.
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