Monica Surrena
Autora / Ilustradora
A little about myself: I initially intended to craft a long, formal biography that sounded impressive, but sometimes simple is best.
Cuando era niña, mis tres cosas favoritas en el mundo eran el arte, la literatura y la música… bueno, también me encantaba la ciencia, pero no fue el camino que decidí seguir.
En fin, como el cine es un tapiz rico en arte y música, decidí estudiar cinematografía. Estudié mucho y logré ser admitida en el programa de Cine de USC, donde conocí a personas increíblemente talentosas. Después de graduarme, incluso jugueteé un poco en la industria. Escribí guiones y soñé en grande. Con el tiempo, apliqué mis habilidades al mundo del mercadeo: diseño web, redes sociales y producción de video. Algunos de mis trabajos favoritos fueron para la industria de la construcción mecánica. Y en mi tiempo libre, seguí escribiendo guiones.
The Cats of Old San Juan comenzó como una serie de televisión especulativa en 2011, cuando me inspiraron los muchos gatos que vivían a lo largo de El Morro. Me pregunté si acaso vivían en un gran reino felino, oculto en la ladera, detrás de la muralla. Así fue como comenzaron las historias.
En 2017, mientras me quedaba con mi mamá en Culebra, Puerto Rico, el huracán María llegó hasta nuestra puerta. Fue en ese momento cuando comencé a considerar seriamente convertir mi serie de televisión en un libro.
Espero que disfrutes mi novela. Estoy emocionada por escribir el resto de la serie y compartir mi camino contigo a lo largo de esta aventura.
I’m currently in the process of writing Book #4 in The Cats of Old San Juan series. .
Sí, actualmente hay tres maneras de conseguir una copia firmada de The Pirate’s Revenge:
Todas las copias en tapa dura de The Pirate’s Revenge incluyen ilustraciones a todo color. Las ediciones en tapa blanda son en blanco y negro y utilizan papel más delgado. Tuve que omitir las ilustraciones en esas versiones. He tratado de mantener el precio de las ediciones en tapa dura lo más bajo posible. Las mejores ofertas se encuentran en mi tienda en línea o en Puerto Rico.
Todos los libros digitales incluyen imágenes a todo color. Ten en cuenta que algunos lectores electrónicos no muestran color.
Actualmente está siendo traducido al español.
Yara Melendes Ordóñez
Translator (Spanish Edition)
Born to artists, Yara revealed her gift for acting and singing from a young age. A graduate of the Escuela Libre de Música, she studied cello there and discovered her passion for choral music. She later studied Drama at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, and went on to work as a singer, actress, and voice talent.
Over time, her path expanded into another universe: words. Today, she lives happily among them, joyfully playing with language. Her journey first led her into advertising, in the early days of social media and digital marketing, collaborating with major brands and companies in Puerto Rico and Latin America.
With a master’s degree in Translation from her alma mater, she has worked as an interpreter in legal settings as well as in conferences and training sessions. Although she rarely visits the stage these days, she has never truly left that world; as an editor and translator, she remains immersed in the subjects she’s most passionate about: music, art, literature, and Puerto Rican cinema. She has translated and edited children’s books, novels, art catalogs, exhibition texts, and screenplays, among others. She is proud to be part of the translation and editing team for the Casals Festival and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. She has also created subtitles for documentaries, lectures, docuseries, short films, and feature films.
Yara grew up in Old San Juan, among the Cats of the Wall and streets steeped in history, where she still lives with her family and two children.
Rico Paul Vallejos
Copyeditor (Spanish Edition)
Rico Paul Vallejos is an award-winning writer and translator specializing in American English and neutral Spanish for the U.S. and Latin America. He serves as Chief Creative Officer at RicoLatino LLC, a creative boutique and consultancy in Wayzata (Twin Cities), Minnesota.
An educator and communicator at heart, Rico brings an expertise trifecta of marketing, culture, and language to communications projects. Rooted in sociolinguistics and cultural anthropology, his work encompasses a wide range of content, including literary material, social media, ads, radio and video scripts, speeches, screenplays, press releases, and other marketing assets. He is a Certified Translator (American Translators Association) and a multilingual professional with native fluency in English and Spanish, conversational ability in Portuguese, and basic knowledge of French, Italian, Finnish, and biblical Hebrew.
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his academic background includes degrees (with honors) from Metropolitan State University and Lakewood College. He is Trustee Emeritus at Hamline University and taught Multicultural Communications at the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Business (Master of International Management). Also, he designed a Conversational Spanish Coaching service incorporating Neuroplasticity and Natural Language Acquisition.
Rico has written, copyedited, translated, and transcreated for brands such as Verizon, Coca-Cola, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, American Express, Radisson, American Family Insurance, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Regis Salons, Great Clips, Girls Scouts, Cargill, Toro, Lasik Vision Institute, BreatheRight, Neutrogena, Lupient Automotive Group, Thrivent, United Health Care, Optum, Fingerhut, Starkey, Miracle Ear, Pearson, 3M, Hazelden, Starkey, Gold’n Plump, Land O’Lakes, Jostens, Rexona, Disability Council, U.S. Agency for International Development, Hazelden Publications, Tango Society, Origin, and several General Mills, Conagra, Unilever, and Gap Inc. brands.
He is a NAHREP 10 Certified Trainer (Hispanic Wealth Project) and regularly serves as Toastmaster, presenter, trainer, MC, and guest lecturer at business, educational, and community conferences and events.
The Cats of Old San Juan fue originalmente escrita como una serie de televisión. Aunque la serie no llegó a producción, Monica conserva ocho de los guiones originales que relatan las muchas aventuras de Campeón y sus amigos, Cali y Alfie.
Descubre cómo comenzó todo y cómo las historias y los personajes fueron evolucionando desde las primeras ideas hasta la novela terminada.
