Welcome back to our series, 20 QUESTIONS!,

where we answer questions about writing, reading, and author life.

This month’s question:

What’s one random fact that people might not know about you?

“I went to high school in a castle!”

—Candy Wellins, author of THE STARS BECKONED: Edward White’s Amazing Walk in Space, illus. Courtney Dawson (Philomel, 2021)

“I played the foreign character in a community theater production of Chicago a few years ago. Instead of being Hungarian, my character was Brazilian and was called Brazuca. I loved it!”

—Joana Pastro, author of BISA’S CARNAVAL, illus. Carolina Coroa (Orchard Books, 2021)

“I helped build the first church in Nueva Rosita, a small village in Mexico on a college volunteer program.”

—M. O. Yuksel, author of ONE WISH: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University, illus. Mariam Quraishi (HarperCollins, 2022)

“There are THREE lighthouses in my town!”

—Anna Crowley Redding (COURAGE LIKE KATE: The True Story of a Girl Lighthouse Keeper, illus. Emily Sutton, Random House Studio, August 2022)