Parisian Promises (26 page)

C
ECILIA VELÁSTEGUI continues to garner praise for her psychological thrillers with historical intrigue. She was awarded first place by the International Latino Book Awards for her novels
Missing in Machu Picchu
(2013) and
Traces of Bliss
(2012).
Gathering the Indigo Maidens
(2011) was a finalist for the Mariposa Award. The Association of American Publishers and the Las Comadres international organization have selected her novels for the National Latino Book Club. Velástegui is an accomplished public speaker, and has participated as a panelist at the 2013 Literary Orange and as a moderator at the 2013 Big Orange Book Festival-Chapman University. Velástegui is known as the Fabulous Fableist™. Her bilingual, children's picture book,
Olinguito Speaks Up – Olinguito alza la voz
, debuted to international acclaim. It is a finalist in two categories of the International Latino Book Awards. Her other fables,
Lalo Loves to Help
and
The Howl of the Mission Owl
, were featured at the Orange County Children's Boom Festival. Velástegui was an invited author to the 2014 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the largest book festival in the country.

Velástegui was born in Ecuador and raised in California and France. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California and speaks four languages. She has traveled to more than sixty countries, and serves on the board of directors of several educational and cultural institutions.

She lives with her family in Monarch Beach, California.

www.CeciliaVelastegui.com