Elisa Stone Leahy is a queer, Peruvian-American children’s author who lives with her husband and kids in Columbus, Ohio. She likes writing about characters with complicated identities because her own identity has plenty of layers. Elisa was born in Ica, Peru, to American parents and lived there most of her life. She left Peru to study in the US, then left the US to start a family in Canada.
In 2007, Elisa started a documentary film company with her partner, Matthew. Together they have told stories about kids in Honduras with HIV/AIDS, guerrilla gardening in Vancouver, Canada, elderly activists around the United States, and a handwoven Incan footbridge in the Peruvian Andes.
Elisa’s work with immigration advocacy, in particular with her friend Edith Espinal, inspired her to write her first book, Tethered to Other Stars, which received starred reviews from both Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly and was a finalist for the Cybils Award. Her second book, Mallory in Full Color (November 2024) explores queer identity and learning to value all the many facets of ourselves.