Marcelo Verdad

Marcelo Verdad is a queer author and illustrator from México and the creator of The Worst Teddy Ever (Little, Brown), which received a Blue Ribbon from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, was a 2022 Indigo Best Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble Book Awards. Marcelo likes to tell layered stories from unconventional perspectives. He describes his work as "consciousness disguised as design." His visual practice involves a lot of play. It starts with multiple recognizable elements for kids—paper textures, cutouts, crayons, bright colors and basic shapes— to create an accessible visual language for them. Then he edits his compositions digitally until he feels a big smile take hold of his face. The smile is a crucial and serious part of the process. Very serious.

Marcelo graduated from ArtCenter College of Design, where he fell in love with kids’ books. He sees them as a great opportunity to share valuable tools to help tiny ones build a strong foundation from which to navigate this world with kindness, openness, and compassion. He lives in Los Angeles, California, but you can often find him traveling in his pink spaceship with his tiny furry life companion, Prana. They love to drink chocolate milk and nap together. His newest project, The Dream Catcher, was published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers in May 2024, and released simultaneously in Spanish as El atrapasueños.