What's Your Story To The World Gonna Be?

Bio (Short Version):

Mexican American filmmaker, author and youth literacy activist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo is the recipient of the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award for The Collectors. Trujillo has written several award-winning books for teens and children, most notably the Fat Angie series, an ALA Stonewall Award and International Latino Book Award Winner, Prizefighter en Mi Casa, a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner and the Lupe Lopez picture book series a Junior Library Gold selection. e.E. is the co-founder of the youth literacy nonprofit Never Counted Out which creates book access and creative mentorship. 

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Bio (Medium-ish Version):

Mexican American author, filmmaker and youth literacy activist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo is the recipient of the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award 2024 for The Collectors. Trujillo has written several award-winning books for teens and children, most notably the Fat Angie series, an ALA Stonewall Award Winner, and Prizefighter en Mi Casa, a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner. Their Lupe Lopez: Rock Star series, co-authored with NYT Bestseller Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by award-winning illustrator Joe Cepeda, has received a number of accolades such as the International Latino Book Award, Junior Library Guild Gold and Bank Street Best Spanish Book. A Girl Can Build Anything also written with Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Keisha Morris was a National Science Teacher Association Winner. e.E. is the Executive Director of the youth literacy nonprofit Never Counted Out that supports access to books and creative mentorship. Trujillo is also a proud member of the Las Musas collective.

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The Unofficial Bio:

Mathis, Texas population 5,034 is where I picked up a Kodak 110 camera and a #2 pencil at roughly the same time. Both attempts at storytelling were cringe-ish but admirable given that I was four. Even then, I sensed there was story all around me -- in conversations at the Dairy Queen over Belt Buster burgers or between GED classes at my adopted dad's adult education program. Story was everywhere and me? I wanted in on it. 

 

Along the way, I wrote some equally cringe-ish poetry, short stories and one act plays, but eventually they improved. Because the best stories I learned are made in revision. 

 

I've lived in Belgium and on the East Coast, West Coast and right down the middle of America.  I've spoken at nearly every major book festival in the country with some of the most brilliant, political and inspiring people. I was a Madrina with Las Musas in 2021 and I'm honored to say that my mentee's work became the lauded middle grade novel Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice. #LiftPeopleUp

I've directed and produced films, music videos and seen a world I never imagined growing up in Mathis, Texas population 5,034. In all of this, I never forgot where I came from, the struggles I faced, and the work it took to find my own voice.

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