Zeena M. Pliska spends her days immersed in the joy of 5-year-olds. She is a kindergarten teacher by day and a children’s book author by night in Los Angeles, California. A progressive public-school educator, she believes that the most important aspect of teaching is listening to children. A social justice activist and organizer for over 30 years, she brings race, class, and gender analysis to everything she does. She is half Egyptian and half Filipino. A lifetime storyteller, she has facilitated stories as a theater director, visual artist, photographer and journalist and most recently as a short film screenwriter/producer/director. Her debut picture book, Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story (Page Street) received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist. Her second picture book Egyptian Lullaby (Roaring Brook) received the Children’s Africana Book Award (CABA) from Howard University. In addition, Zeena has written two board books in the Chicken Soup for Babies series from Charlesbridge. Zeena’s blog posts can be found at www.teachingauthors.com. She’s a member of Kidlit For Growing Minds and a longstanding member of SCBWI.
Zeena is represented by Abigail Samoun.
