Our author visits are dependent upon donations. We appreciate the support of foundations, individuals, bookstores and companies to bring these important voices for our students to dialouge and interact with. Author visits are life changing and are one step in creating life long readers, students who follow their passions and critically evaluate information. Please support our author visits by making a donation or providing other support. 

Pablo Cartaya, award-winning author, speaker, actor, and educator will be visting Bret Harte Middle School Friday, August 24th, 2018.  Pablo is the author of the acclaimed middle grade novel The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora and the forthcoming Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish. Pablo has acted on stage and television (notably co-starring on NBC’s "Will & Grace") and frequently gives talks around the country on writing, reading, and multilingualism. 

Pablo has been a guest speaker at Florida International University’s Exile Studies Program, University of Miami's Lowe Museum, and has visited schools throughout the US. He leads an Knight Foundation Arts Grant funded initiative through The Betsy Hotel called Escribe Aquí, which promotes and supports bilingual authors and creatives from around the world with a focus on Iberoamerican authors and artists. He holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Loyola Marymount University. He currently serves as lead faculty at Sierra Nevada College's low residency MFA in the Writing for Children and Young Adults track. 

Awards and Honors include: 2018 American Library Association’s Pura Belpré Honor, 2018 Audie Award Finalist for Middle Grade Audiobook of the Year (for narration and title), 2018 Cybils Award Finalist, 2018 Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2017 Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start, and the 2018 Thurber House Writer-in-Residence.

He calls Miami home and Cuban-American his cultura. Visit him at: pablocartaya.com

OUSD students have experienced visits from:

Kwame Alexander
MK Asante
Carmen Bogan

Carlos Andres Gómez

Matt de La Pena & Loren Long

Andrew Maraniss

Kekla Magoon 
Jason Reynolds !!!

Nic Stone

Duncan Tonatiuh

and many, many others