SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, May 28, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — “Words are magical,” declares our guest. “There is a power within words that can change lives. It’s extremely liberating and powerful, unique and transformative. I have devoted myself to writing because of my faith in words.” This is the story of Isabel Campoy.
Isabel Campoy is a bilingual author of children’s books and educational texts. Having written over two hundred books, published in English or Spanish. She is a defender of bilingualism and a researcher of language identity. A world traveler, Isabel highlights the reality she has encountered practically in every country she has visited, in which speaking AT LEAST two languages is the norm. “This norm is in sharp contrast with the United States where the majority of the population is monolingual,” concerns Isabel.
“Of course, language is where the soul of a culture lives,” adds Isabel. “Unless we learn about others outside our little circle of life, we will never grow. Nor we will make this a more friendly, livable world. That is what lives at the core of my writing in both languages: The need to build bridges of understanding”.
As the author of poetry, narrative, biographies, art and educational texts there is ample choice of topics for our dialogue. For this show, Isabel will discuss a few of her more notable works.
Maybe Something Beautiful, and its Spanish-language version, Quizás Algo Hermoso, co-authored with Theresa Howell, and illustrated by Rafael López, the real character of this book, is based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego. The protagonist Mira decides to paste her drawing of a sun on one of the dark walls of an alley. This act inspired the transformation of a whole community who worked together in the East Village of San Diego painting murals of hope.
Yes! We are Latinos, and its Spanish-language version, ¡Sí! Somos Latinos, co-authored with Alma Flor Ada, focuses on thirteen young Latinos and Latinas living in the United States. It celebrates the rich diversity of race, religion, and culture of the Latino and Latina experience.
Authors in the Classroom: A Transformative Education Process, another notable book co-authored by Alma Flor Ada, provides a resource for teachers wanting to teach their students how to write. It does this by offering instruction and writing examples. “My purpose is to motivate other authors to share their words,” explains Isabel.
La Expedición de la Vacuna, published in January of 2024, tells the story of how the vaccine for smallpox arrived to the Americas in an expedition of courage and faith, helped by 22 orphan children and their matron. Their lives saved millions in the American continent.
Born in Alicante, Spain, Isabel’s career in writing came at age nine, when her story El Muñeco de Nieve was published in a local Spanish magazine. While Alicante contains a near-desert climate, her story is about a snowman. Isabel knew that because of her imagination, she was destined to write. She started out as an acquisition editor – first in her native Spain, then in Boston. After many years of signing authors, she ultimately took the leap of faith to become an author.
Isabel had visited the United States two times, before becoming a permanent resident on her third visit – first in 1963, as an exchange student in American Field Service in Trenton, MI, and second, as a Fulbright Scholar at UCLA in 1978. In 1981, she officially immigrated to the United States.
Isabel plans to release two notable books in the upcoming months. The first book titled Celebrate Juneteenth, which will be released in 2024, invites the reader to learn about the recently enacted national holiday, and its importance on freedom and race in America. Showing a commitment to equality, inclusion, and social justice, it’s part of a lager Celebration Series that also focuses on other holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, Cinco De Mayo, Fourth of July, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Halloween and Day of the Dead (All Souls Day), and a Native American Pow Wow. Another book that Isabel has written, titled Books on Bikes, will be released in 2025.
“Have faith in the power of your voice,” concludes Isabel. “Make sure that you are eager to seed positive ideas in the world. Try to understand people that are on the opposite side of your convictions. Build bridges of hope. We live in a very small planet in this universe. We need to understand each other.”
Close Up Radio will feature Isabel Campoy in an interview with Doug Llewelyn on Thursday May 30th at 2pm Eastern
Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio
If you have any questions for our guest, please call (347) 996-3389
For more information, please visit https://www.isabelcampoy.com/
Lou Ceparano
Close Up Television & Radio
+1 631-850-3314
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