Credit: Shelby Mahurin
Meet Isabel Ibañez
Author. Illustrator. Globetrotter. History Lover.
BORN & RAISED in Boca Raton to a pair of Bolivian immigrants, matured in Orlando and currently living my adult life in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. When I was a kid, you could often find me with my nose in a book, or trailing after my travel-loving parents, who took my brother and I on adventures across the globe. Some thirty years later, and I’m happy to report that not much has changed since then. I’m still an avid reader, obsessed with getting lost in a country I haven’t explored yet, my sketchbook in tow.
Before I became a writer full time, I worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and letterpress printer at 9th Letter Press, a company I founded in 2013. For nearly a decade, I illustrated greeting cards and wedding invitations, notebooks and journals, having a grand old time, even though there was a part of me that really missed writing.
And that’s when I picked up the proverbial pen and began drafting a young adult novel about a latina pirate with a strained relationship with her sea-faring father who happened to be king of all pirates. That book is a mess and no one will EVER read it, but I did finish it, and it did get me an agent. It also taught me so much about writing and the kind of stories I wanted to tell, and so I will always think of it with fondness, instead of embarrassment. I suppose all life lessons can be a blend of the two.
From there, I sat down to write Woven in Moonlight, and the rest, as someone once said somewhere in time, is history.
Curiously Specific Fun Facts
I love the color mint green. It makes me think of comfy throw pillows, and a foamy sea, a friendly cafe, and rattan chairs and wooden tables with spindle legs.
My favorite store is Anthropologie, and once upon time, my greeting cards were sold on their whimsical shelves for many years. To this day, this achievement is something I’m still very proud of.
I love a good plaid, in any color, the softer the better. I like them thrown over beds, on couch ends, and in the form of sweaters, blankets, and socks.
I am a nerd about paper. My favorite stationery is from Crane & Co., a company founded in 1770. Paul Revere was once their first customer, and he used it to print paper money for American colonists.
I hate traveling by plane, which is so unfortunate, not to mention inconvenient, since I love to travel & get lost in a new city. I just feel like I’m sticking myself on an enormous pepsi can that somehow defies all reason and stays up in the air.
I’m fluent in Spanish, but I can also hold* my own in French.
*By this I mean, I can order a croissant like a local.
official author bio:
Isabel Ibañez is a USA Today, Indie, Sunday Times, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of whimsical historical fantasies for teens and adults. She has written many highly acclaimed novels, including Woven in Moonlight, which is listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time and was a finalist for the William C. Morris award as well as the bestselling Secrets of the Nile duology, Together We Burn, and Written in Starlight. She is the proud daughter of Bolivian immigrants and has a deep love for history, traveling, and writing stories where her characters are often running for their lives. She currently lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her family, their adorable goldendoodle, and an overwhelming number of books.
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