The El Paso Community Foundation and the Texas Book Festival are teaming up to present three children’s book author-illustrators at 12:30 pm Saturday, April 6 as part of the first El Paso Science Festival in the convention center.

Authors and illustrators Pedro Martín, Andrea Cáceres, and Mirelle Ortega will take part in a panel, Pixels and Pages: Exploring Digital Design in Children’s Literature, which will explore the ways they engage digital design tools to illustrate their books. Pedro Martín is a Newbery Honor Award and Pura Belpré award-winning author-illustrator of the graphic memoir Mexikid, based on his web comic series of the same name. Andrea Cáceres is an illustrator and art director whose debut picture book, My Dog Just Speaks Spanish, was published in 2023. Mirelle Ortega is an award-winning Mexican artist, storyteller, concept artist and the author-illustrator of Magic: Once Upon a Faraway Land, for which she received a Pura Belpré Award and an International Latino Book Award.

“We are thrilled to bring Texas Book Festival programming back to El Paso,” said Dalia Azim, the Austin-based book festival’s Chief Operations Officer. “In 2023, TBF brought our Title I school program, Reading Rock Stars, to Aoy and Hart elementary schools in El Paso for the first time. We return this year with three remarkable authors, and we are excited to have the opportunity to feature our authors in a free, public program as part of the El Paso Science Festival.”

In addition to the science festival panel, the Texas Book Festival will host all three authors in private programs at Heart and Aoy elementary schools on Friday, April 5.

“Through the creative collaboration between the Texas Book Festival and the El Paso Science Festival our community will have the opportunity to experience science and literature in a way that will hopefully inspire future generations of readers and innovators,” said Eric Pearson, President and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation.

The inaugural El Paso Science Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7 from 10 am to 4 pm, in the convention center downtown. The event will feature more than 70 interactive exhibits, main-stage demonstrations, a speaker series and special guest and astronaut, José Hernández.

“Collaboration is at the heart of innovation, and we are thrilled to partner with the Texas Book Festival to bring authors into this historic event and enrich the El Paso Science Festival experience,” said Enrique Gómez, Founder and Co-Chair of the El Paso Science Festival, adding “Together, we are empowering our community to explore the intersections of literature and science, inspiring curiosity and sparking imaginations.”

For more information visit: elpasoscience.org

For more information about the Texas Book Festival visit: texasbookfestival.org