AUTHOR

A woman holding up a plaque with a smile on her face.

Meet Award-Winning Author Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford

Mrs. Rivera-Ashford is an accomplished international bilingual award-winning author. Roni has the ability and natural gift to relate to children and adults in English, as well as Spanish. Over 250,000 copies of her books have been sold.

Roni was selected for the 2009 Winner of the Judy Goddard / Libraries, Ltd. Award recognized as a lifetime Arizona Children's Author.
www.librariesltdaz.org

Cinco Puntos Press, Roni's newest publisher, publishes great books which make a difference in the way you see the world!
www.cincopuntos.com

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Roni's 1st publisher, is an internationally renowned zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden, all in one place!
www.desertmuseum.org

Roni's DREAM

"My dream is that my stories become available to children, families, schools, and libraries everywhere, to promote tolerance and eliminate discrimination; to help build bridges of communication."

Intergenerational and intercultural awareness and acceptance amongst all peoples are threads woven throughout Roni's writings. She hopes that through literacy, and her stories, people will embrace their similarities and respectfully acknowledge their differences.

"Stories from my heart to yours: connecting and preserving cultures, families, generations and their histories through books.”
- Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford

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A man and woman smiling for the camera.

RONI'S JOURNEY:

Born to a pioneering Jewish family and grew up in Nogales, Arizona, on the U.S. - Mexico border. Her great-grandparents came to the U.S. as immigrants from across the ocean: France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Russia. Roni's stories come from her childhood days growing up in the Sonoran Desert, in a bilingual, multicultural world, where she still lives and writes.

Daniel Rivera Ashford, her high school sweetheart and husband of 48 years: Roni refers to him as Danny, as her soul mate and "the wind beneath my wings”.

Danny’s maternal great-grandparents came from Italy, Ireland, Mexico and Spain. His paternal grandmother, Nana María, was an immigrant from Magdalena, Sonora, México. His paternal great-grandfather, Isaiah Ashford, was born in 1838 in Alabama of African descendants.

Roni and Danny,

are 2nd and 3rd generation children of immigrants, who came from distinct regions of the world to meet in the border town of Nogales, Arizona. They have 3 adult children who are the child characters in her Tata's and Monsoon stories, as well as two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Roni has spoken Spanish and English from birth and sometimes dreams in Spanish, too. For nearly 30 years, she was a bilingual pre-school and elementary teacher, as well as a translator/interpreter. She also taught Community College courses, earned her Bilingual Endorsement at the University of Phoenix and Librarian Endorsement at the University of Arizona.

Roni now spends some of her time presenting family literacy, cultural awareness and diversity appreciation workshops in connection with her writing.

Aside from spending time with family and friends, and writing, she enjoys yoga, watercolor painting, listening to music – a variety of genres in both Spanish and English, cooking, arts-and-crafts. Some of her other favorite pastimes are spending tranquil time at the beach or the mountains, near the relaxing flow of water or fresh scent of pine trees.

Two women standing next to each other and smiling.

Ramona Grijalva & Roni ~ Award Winners

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Mayor Regina Romero congratulates Roni
1st Latina & 1st Woman Mayor  Tucson, AZ

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Former, Late U.S. Ambassador & Gov. Raúl H. Castro & Roni 2014

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Roni visiting Gov. Castro sharing pages of RAULITO 2013