About

Photo credit: Dave Dieken

Anika Fajardo was born in Colombia and raised in Minnesota. Her debut middle-grade novel What If a Fish was awarded the 2021 Minnesota Book Award. Her latest book for young readers, Meet Me Halfway, was a finalist for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award. She is also the author of Magical Realism for Non-Believers: A Memoir of Finding Family , which was awarded Best Book (Nonfiction) of 2020 from City Pages and was a finalist for the 2020 Minnesota Book Award.

Her writing for adults and children has appeared in numerous publications including Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World, and Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities, as well as Travel + Leisure magazine. Fajardo also wrote Encanto: A Tale of Three Sisters, the middle-grade tie-in novel for the film.

She has earned multiple awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board and from the Jerome Foundation. With a Masters in Library Science, she is a former librarian. When she is not writing, she currently teaches creative writing at Augsburg University’s MFA program. She lives with her family in Minneapolis. 

 

Huh? How do you pronounce your name?

Anika rhymes with “Monica” but without the “M” (ON-i-kah)
Fajardo is pronounced like it’s spelled, but the “J” makes an “H” sound (Fah-HAR-doh)

*Listen to audio name pronunciation from TeachingBooks.

 

Looking for an “official bio,” high-res images, and more? See my Press Kit

Bicultural experience is a dispassionate term for life lived across borders, identities, and even family trees. As Anika Fajardo makes clear, there is nothing dispassionate about flying back to one’s birthland, walking its soil again, or breaking bread with family who have become as good as strangers.

—Lila Quintero Weaver

Awards

Finalist, South Carolina Book Award, 2024 (Meet Me Halfway)

Finalist, Minnesota Book Award, 2023 (Meet Me Halfway)

Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Achievement in Children's Literature Award, 2023 (Meet Me Halfway)

Grantee, Creative Support for Individuals, Minnesota State Arts Board,
2022 | 2023

Finalist, Rhode Island Latino Books Award, 2022 (What If a Fish)

Winner, Minnesota Book Awards, 2021 (What If a Fish)

Finalist, International Latino Book Awards, 2021 (What If a Fish)

CCBC Choices, 2021 (What If a Fish)

Winner, Midway Journal, -1000 Below Contest, 2021 (“Muscle Memory”)

Finalist, Minnesota Book Awards, 2020 (Magical Realism for Non-Believers)

Best Book (Nonfiction), City Pages, 2020 (Magical Realism for Non-Believers)

Grantee, Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2018 | 2016 | 2011

Mentee, Pitch Wars, 2017 (What If a Fish)

Finalist, Loft Literary Center’s Emerging Writers Grant, 2015

Grantee, Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant, 2014

Winner, St. Catherine University's Denny Prize for Distinction in Writing, 2013

Finalist, Bakeless Literary Prize in Creative Nonfiction, 2012

Pushcart Prize Nomination, Hippocampus Magazine, 2011

Fellowship, Loft Literary Center Mentor Series, 2009-2010 (selected by JC Hallman and Judith Kitchen)

Mentee, Latino Cycle of the Inroads Program, Loft Literary Center, 2009

 

Activities

Founder & web developer, MN BIPOC Kidlit Creators, 2022-present

Mentor, AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship Program, Season 18, 2023

Mentor, Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series, 2021-2022

Artist Career Consultant, Springboard for the Arts, 2020-present

Web developer & founding member, Latinx Kidlit Book Festival, 2020

Mentor, Hermanas mentoring program, Las Musas, 2020 | 2021

Executive committee, Board of Directors, Loft Literary Center, 2016-2022

Judge, Scholastic Writing Awards, Minnesota Writing Project, 2021

Member/Madrina, Las Musas, 2019-present

Judge, Kate Dopirak Craft and Community Award, 2020

Judge, First Annual Davenport Prize in Nonfiction, Knox College, 2019

Judge, Minnesota Book Awards, 2012 | 2014 | 2018

Panel judge, Minnesota State Arts Board, 2012 | 2014 | 2018

Book Reviewer (women’s fiction), Publisher's Weekly, 2014-2016

Book Reviewer (women’s fiction), Library Journal, 2004-2012

 
 
 

Anika Fajardo is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Minnesota State Arts Board logo and Clean Water Act logo