Elsewhere is delighted to congratulate author and illustrator Rocío Araya on being named a 2024 Sendak Fellow. Araya, one of three Fellows this year, is an author and illustrator from Bilbao, Spain who currently lives in France. She has illustrated more than ten books, several of which she is also the author. Her first book to appear in English, Head in the Clouds, will be out from Elsewhere Editions in September. In translation from Spanish by Sarah Moses, Head in the Clouds explores the world of Sofía, whose questions and dreams splash across the pages of this joyful and imaginative book. Peruse Araya’s whimsical, collage-like illustrations on her website and preorder Head in the Clouds here.
The fellowship was created in 2010 by Maurice Sendak with his long-time assistant Lynn Caponera and photographer and community activist Dona Ann McAdams to mentor promising illustrators. Awarded by the Maurice Sendak Foundation, the four-week fellowship takes allows residents to focus on their creative work, meet with visiting artists and professionals, and explore Sendak’s archives at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Sendak hope was that the fellows would “create work that is not vapid or stupid, but original; work that excites and incites. Illustration is like dance; it should move like—and to—music.”
