Hi! My name is Maritza (in English it’s pronounced mer-EEET-suh, like the “mer” in mermaid, rhyming with pizza!). I’m a Bay Area artist and writer who specializes in children’s literature. My current projects include picture books, an early middle grade graphic novel, and a hybrid illustrated middle grade novel. I’ve published comics and an illustrated essay in MUTHA Magazine. In prior years, I exhibited my fine art studio work in gallery shows in New York, Miami, Santa Fe, and San Francisco.

I serve as a Co-Illustrator Coordinator for the SF North & East Bay Region of SCBWI and I also make use of offerings from Kids Comics Unite, The Illustration Department, and Storyteller Academy. In my early childhood, I lived down the street from Disneyland (nighttime fireworks viewing while sitting on the roof!), and just when I imagined myself going out with friends to do fun things, my parents moved to the middle of nowhere, aka Southern California's Mojave Desert. To remedy this, a couple years later I moved myself to a city up north so I could attend the San Francisco Art Institute, earning a BFA in New Genres. I’ve lived in the Bay Area ever since (a Californian through and through!), settling in the Diablo Region with my husband, two sons, and two smoosh-faced dogs. I have very fond memories of the years I lived in the desert! Even though I’m way old enough to “do whatever I want,” I’m usually cozy at home: drawing, sewing, or gardening while listening to audio books.

To take a look at Maritza’s fine art work, feel free to deep dive > here.

Her exhibition & publication history can be found > here.