Zeke Peña

Zeke Peña is a Xicano storyteller and professional doodler from El Paso, TX, the Sun City. His author-illustrator debut, "Sundust" is a love poem to desert culture and won a Caldecott Honor Award. Zeke received the Ezra Jack Keats and the Pura Belpré Illustration Honors for "My Papi Has a Motorcycle;" and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for "Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide." He illustrated the NY Times Best-Selling "Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel." Zeke is currently drawing more books in his tiny studio in NW Arkansas.

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Awards: Caldecott Honor Book, Pura Belpré Award, Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Honor Award, Horn Book Award

Communities: Hispanic or Latinx

Illustrator Studio: Shapes, Forms & Colors

Shapes, forms and colors! Oh my! Zeke Peña, an award-winning illustrator, art director and professor of Illustration, revisits some fundamentals and experiments with new techniques to strengthen your illustration work. This workshop walks you through ways to improve your character designs and page layouts to grab readers attention. Zeke received a 2026 Caldecott Honor Award for "Sundust."

Education Room 437 (Seats 65, Wheelchair accessible)  
Sun, Mar 15, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Children
Signing area: Signing Area - Children (following presentation)  

Panelist: Zeke Peña
Moderator: Ray Martens
Sponsor: Session made possible courtesy of The William and Mary Ross Foundation

Flights of Imagination and Discovery

Immerse yourself in flights of imagination and discovery in three visually stunning and creative picturebooks. In one, a playful cat journeys through multiple pieces of art, while in another a boy finds companionship as he searches for a lost orange balloon. The third is a love poem to the desert as two children follow the blazing trail of sundust.

Education Room 353 (Seats 92, Wheelchair accessible)  
Sun, Mar 15, 2:30 pm - 3:25 pm
Children
Signing area: Signing Area - Children (following presentation)  

Panelists: Bruce Handy, Brian Lies, Zeke Peña
Moderator: Heather Carlson
Sponsors: Session made possible courtesy of Helios Education Foundation, James Wezelman and Denise Grusin

Books:

Sundust

Children
Penguin Group
August 2025
ISBN 9780593700112
48 pages
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My Papi Has a Motorcycle

Children
Penguin Young Readers Group
May 2019
ISBN 9780525553410
40 pages
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