Birdie's Beauty Parlor

Lee Merrill Byrd, novelist and publisher, was born and raised in New Jersey but has spent most of her life in the Southwest. In 1985, with her husband, poet Bobby Byrd, she founded Cinco Puntos Press, a publishing company named after their neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. In October 2003, Cinco Puntos published Lee's first picture book for children, The Treasure on Gold Street, A Neighborhood Story in Spanish and English. It received a Skipping Stones Honor Book Award, a Southwest Book Award, a Paterson Poetry Center Prize, and a Teddy Award from the Texas Writers League.

Francisco Delgado, a fronterizo artist, was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua in 1974. He received his MFA from the Yale School of Art. His paintings have been on book covers, in national art exhibits, private collections and community institutions. Delgado's picture books include ¡Si, Se Puede! and Juanito Counts to Ten. He also provided the illustrations for Out of Their Minds, by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite.