Sara Fajardo

Sara Andrea Fajardo is a Peruvian American author who writes stories that celebrate her mixed heritage and Andean Roots. Her book, Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa, illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Juana Martinez-Neal (Roaring Brook Press), received the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal and earned her the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award as well as an Orbus Pictus honor. It was also an Outstanding Science Trade book,  a Notable Book for a Global Society, and received five starred reviews. The Spanish edition translated by Mariana Llanos, Alberto Salas juega a la paka paka con la papa, was a Bank Street College of Education silver medalist for the 2026 Premio, Mejor Libro Infantil/Best Spanish Language Picture Book Award. 

Crack Goes the Cascarón, illustrated by Rocio Arreola Mendoza (Knopf Books for Young Readers) was also released in Spanish as La explosión del cascarón. HarperCollins Children’s Books will release A Tanta Wawa for Abuelito, illustrated by Duda Oliva (fall 2026) and Knopf will publish Mayu Packs the Planet, illustrated by Emily Hughes, in 2027. 

Sara is a founding member of #LatinxPitch for KidLit. She grew up on a steady diet of Andean guitar music, potatoes, and her father’s stories of a childhood in their nearly 400-year-old ancestral home. 

She teaches first grade dual immersion in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her husband, two kids, and a very playful cat.