About Jolene

Here's my official biography:

Jolene Gutiérrez is an award-winning neurodivergent teacher librarian who has been working with neurodivergent learners at Denver Academy since 1995. Jolene writes for young readers and hopes her books will help some readers feel seen and will inspire others to learn and grow in compassion. Her books have been printed in nine countries and eight languages. Jolene is an active member of SCBWI and winner of the 2025 Crystal Kite Award for the Southwest Region. Jolene is represented by agent Kaitlyn Sanchez and is a contributor to If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility and the author of Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp (2026, co-authored with Minoru Tonai), Mamiachi and Me: My Mami’s Mariachi Band (co-authored with her son Dakota), The Ofrenda That We Built (co-authored with her daughter Shaian), Too Much! An Overwhelming Day, the Stars of Latin Pop series, Bionic Beasts: Saving Animal Lives with Artificial Flippers, Legs, and Beaks, and Mac and Cheese and the Personal Space Invader. Find her online at www.jolenegutierrez.com or on Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, or Threads @writerjolene. 

And here's another biography that gives you a little more information about me in first person. ;)

Age 4 with my favorite book and rock.

I was born in Sterling, Colorado in 1974. I grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado and have many fond memories of farm life, including riding horses and collecting rocks. I also have many nasty memories of farm life, including falling in a puddle of pig poop while wearing white pants and eating Rocky Mountain Oysters before I learned that they aren't really oysters.

Growing up on a farm with no other kids my age within walking distance, I grew to love reading and writing. I've been writing since I was 5 or so, and my second-grade teacher helped me publish my first book.


I've been a school librarian since 1995 and I love helping students find their perfect book. After I had my own kids, though, for a little while I was so busy being a mom that I forgot some of the other things that nurture my soul. When a brilliant woman I knew, Rae, lost her fight with breast cancer, I realized that I needed to stop waiting for my dreams to come true and take steps to make them come true. So I started writing again.

I dream that the books I write will become someone's perfect book. I can't imagine anything more magical than that! One of my other dreams is to change the world, one reader at a time. I have lots of dreams. None of them include Rocky Mountain Oysters. :)