Lee Honors College student Nadia Famiano publishes first book: Julie Loves to Dance

A double major in English: Creative Writing and Spanish, Nadia has been writing since kindergarten. In Nadia’s words, “Little Kindergartener Nadia decided that she wanted to be a children’s book author, which is kind of what led me to become published in the first place.”

The road to publication for Nadia went more smoothly than she had anticipated: “I wanted to write a book, but I didn’t know if a publisher would think I was good enough. So I sent a manuscript to a publishing company I found online to see what a rejection letter looked like and I wanted criticism on my writing to make me a better writer. You can imagine my surprise when they actually accepted it.”

Nadia’s collaborator for Julie Loves to Dance was her illustrator, Nicholas Crocker. Nicholas is the artist son of Nadia’s high school English teacher and created beautiful images for Nadia’s story. Nadia has dedicated Julie Loves to Dance to Quyen Edwards, Assistant to the Director at the Portage District Library. On how Quyen first came into her life, Nadia shares that “She was the one who initially told me I would write a book. She would give me paper and stickers every week when I was in kindergarten so that I could write her little stories. Years later, my book is dedicated to her because I finally wrote her a real one.”

In addition to writing and her course work, Nadia keeps busy as a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta executive board, as part of the Bronco Marching Band color guard and was recently named as a co-editor of The Laureate, the Lee Honors College undergraduate journal for fiction, poetry and other creative works. 

Though she does not have any official projects up next, Nadia shares that she always has at least a few ideas in the works. Her career goal is to be a children’s librarian and she’d love to wind up at the Portage District Library—back where it all started. 

Julie Loves to Dance, written by Nadia Famiano and illustrated by Nicholas Crocker, is available for purchase online through Kalamazoo bookstore, Bookbug, as well as through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also follow Nadia’s author Instagram account @therealnadiawrites.