Menena Cottin author page

Menena Cottin biography

Menena Cottin is a Venezuelan children’s author, illustrator and graphic designer. She studied graphic design at the Neumann Foundation Design Institute in Caracas before taking courses in children’s book writing and illustration at Parsons School of Design and traditional animation at Pratt Institute in New York. She has written, illustrated and designed more than 30 children’s books, published in countries including Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Italy and France.

Her picture book The Black Book of Colours, illustrated by Rosana Faría, was originally published in Spanish as El libro negro de los colores by Ediciones Tecolote in Mexico in 2006. Developed with editor Mónica Bergna, the book explores how colours can be understood through touch, taste, smell and hearing. Its black pages feature raised illustrations, printed text and Braille. Translated into English by Elisa Amado, it was published by Groundwood Books in 2008 and by Walker Books in the UK in March 2010.

The Black Book of Colours received the New Horizons BolognaRagazzi Award at the 2007 Bologna Children’s Book Fair and was selected for the New York Times Book Review’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008. It also received the Prix Littéraire de la Citoyenneté in France.

Cottin’s other children’s books include Equilibrio, Emociones de una línea and La doble historia de un vaso de leche, all published by Ediciones Tecolote in 2007. Further titles include El tiempo (2009), Doble doble (2013), De otro color (2014) and Tengo hambre, published by Cataplum Libros, which introduces young readers to food chains through illustrations and simple text.

Cottin has also developed digital children’s books through And Then Story Designers. Her digital book Double Double received a special mention at the 2014 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.