Desiree Calderon de Fawaz

Official Site of Award-Winning Author, Illustrator & Poet

Works

Signed copies and magical earrings now available.   

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Tata's Earrings

Los Aretes de Tata

Bio

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     Growing up in Mexico City was a delight. I was rather lucky to have an illustrious dad who, above all, fostered the love for reading, classical music, chess and all things cultural. His family had been the cradle of many historical and artistic personalities from writers like Jose Vasconcelos to painters like Frida Kahlo.  I was only 6 when he came home with an easel, canvases and my new set of oil paints. From then on, we dedicated many afternoons to learning some easy oil techniques. It didn't take much for me to get hooked and soon I had a collection of paintings that mom displayed proudly.  By age 11, dad hired me to copy portions of the Dresden Codex  to illustrate one of his books on Mayan archaeo-astronomy. That was, I believe,  the start of my career as an illustrator. 

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 Life had written, though, that I was to be born to a singer mom who was a gypsy at heart.  By the time I was 16, we had moved residence back and forth eleven times and we got to experience life in the Yucatan peninsula, Puerto Rico and North Mexico. We had also traveled extensively and repeatedly to most states in Mexico, all of them with contrasting, different subcultures and traditions, and to places as far as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy and the USA. With so much movement in my early years, it was essential  to find refuge in painting and poetry. They both became my anchors and, in many ways, my form of meditation.  If I could summarize my childhood, without sugar-coating it, I would say that it was a happy, awe-inspiring one where the main theme was "multiplicity of cultures and religions" and I learned at a very young age about this common thread of love that ties all of us together and makes us One.

News & Events

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Feb.

New Events Coming Soon

Mar.

Houston Lebanese Festival 2020

What People Are Saying...

There is something special about this tale that every kid and even adults can feel when you read it – the special bond between Tata and Maya, the stories of a grandfather who embodied strength, compassion and love for others. Beautiful message.  
 

Mother of Paola Belloso (age 10)  

READER VIEWS

Through delightful text and gorgeous illustrations, Desiree Calderon takes us on a colorful adventure around the world, in which a little girl learns to see the magic and wonder of life through an epic yet simple account of how grandma's magical earrings traveled the globe until they found her.

Rebecca Massey,
PHOTOGRAPHER

Tata's earrings is a charming little book that resonates with multicultural kids, but teaches all children how, despite where our ancestors come from, we are all equally magical creatures.

Maria Papandreou

KINDERGARTEN TEACHER

About Me

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Growing up in Mexico City was a delight. I was rather lucky to have an illustrious father who, above all, fostered the love for reading, classical music, chess and all things cultural. His family had been the cradle of many historical and artistic personalities from writers like Jose Vasconcelos to painters like Frida Kahlo.  I was only 6 when he came home with an easel, canvases and my new set of oil paints. From then on, we dedicated many afternoons to learning some easy oil techniques. It didn't take much for me to get hooked and soon I had a collection of paintings that mom displayed proudly.  By age 11, dad hired me to copy portions of the Dresden Codex  to illustrate one of his books on Mayan archaeo-astronomy. That was, I believe,  the start of my career as an illustrator. 

 I owe to my mother, a singer and unapologetic nomad, the  excitement of those early years.   By the time I was 16, we had moved residence back and forth eleven times; experiencing life in the Yucatan peninsula, Puerto Rico and North Mexico. We had also traveled extensively and repeatedly to most states in Mexico, all of them with contrasting subcultures and traditions, and to places as far as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy and the USA. With so much movement in my early years, it was essential  to find refuge in painting and poetry. They both became my anchors and, in many ways, my form of meditation.  If I could summarize my childhood, without sugar-coating it, I would say that it was a happy, awe-inspiring one where the main theme was "multiplicity of cultures and religions" and I learned at a very young age about this common thread of love that ties all of us together and makes us One.

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Contact

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