Pilar Vélez (Colombia). Economist, writer, and cultural promoter. Chair of the Hispanic Heritage Literature Organization / Milibrohispano.org. Collaborator Member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, ANLE). Recipient of the Alfonso López Michelsen's National Prize for Communication and Journalism, the Community Value Award by the Government of Colombia (Miami, FL), and the Order of Merit for Democracy, with the degree of Commander, awarded by the Senate of the Republic of Colombia. Member of the International Academy of Social Sciences. Eight-time award winner of the International Latino Book Awards for her novel El Expreso del Sol - First place in the Best Non-Fiction / Autobiography category in Spanish and second place in the Best Focused Book Non-Fiction in Spanish category (2016)- and her poetry books: Soles manchados (2015) and Pax de Deux: Relatos y poemas en escena (2014), in which she co-authored. Her award-winning children's books include: Anita and Grandma's dulce de leche (bilingual, 2019) - First place Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book, in which she highlights the meaning of traditions as a legacy for humanity, Carta a mis sueños para el planeta Tierra, second place in the Best Educational Young Adult Book and Best Educational Themed Book (2019) categories, and which is used as course material for workshops focused on self-assurance and empowering children and young people to make their personal dreams come true through encouragement, entrepreneurship and social consciousness about the environment; and Laura and the Sky Wizard, second place in the Most Inspirational Children's Picture Book - Bilingual category (2019), and in which she teaches us the value of every being of creation. Other children's books by Vélez include: A Gift for Laura (bilingual edition, 2017), in which she explores the potential insecurities that family separation can cause during childhood; and Fallen from the Sky (bilingual, 2019), a moving tale about how human beings are capable of compromising with nature, love life, and respect freedom, even if it means coping with the sadness of absence. She recently published Carta a mis sueños para los niños del mundo. Some of her children's books have been awarded with the Purple Dragonfly and Readers' Favorite coveted recognition.Through her work, we witness her sensibility for social causes, while presenting different aspects of reality from a literary point of view. Her work has been included in several anthologies. Her novel, El Expreso del Sol, was featured on Revista de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, a cultural journal associated with the Royal Spanish Academy (Vol. V No. 9, 2016); by the academic journal Hybrido (2016 version), and the Project Muse Hispania (ISSN 0018-2133, Vol. 100, No. 1, 2017, pp. 162-163). This literary work has also served as a leading guide in workshops focused on women's groups and is now part of the academic curriculum, as a literary text, for Peace Lectures in several schools in Colombia.Vélez has a Primary School Teaching Degree from Cali, Colombia, and worked as an elementary and high school teacher. She's also an Economics graduate from the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (Cali, Colombia); obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University (Miami, FL), and a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Salamanca, Spain. She currently works in several projects to support Hispanic culture diffusion, as well as to promote environmental preservation. The community of Isabela, located at Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, dedicated their first library to her: "Biblioteca Ecológica Pilar Vélez-Zamparelli", amongst other important recognitions obtained by the author. http: //pilarvelez.com/https: //lettertomydreams.com/ http: //www.milibrohispano.org
