Author photo of author Chiara Beth Colombi, taken September 2024 by photographer Lauren Barkume
Photo credit: Lauren Barkume

True Story

Chiara Colombi never knew she wanted to be a writer. She was quite confident she would grow up to be an astronaut. In fact, she is still quite confident that she will grow up to be an astronaut. But in the meantime, she enjoys counting her lucky stars and finding words for the countless stories they inspire. She currently lives in California with her family and an open view of the sky.

Backstory

I'm a bilingual Italian-American
Cosplay costuming is my favorite hobby
I performed Shakespeare in college (and I miss it!)
Favorite picture book from childhood? Corduroy
My day job is in B2B tech (and I love it!)

Press Kit Bio

Chiara Colombi is the author of Rocket Ship, Solo Trip, illustrated by Scott Magoon. An Italian-American bilingual wordsmith dedicated to the art of engineering with words, she worked for a decade as a translator before pivoting into product marketing at a Silicon Valley startup in the data privacy space. She is as comfortable talking about PII (personally identifiable information) as she is talking about PBs (picture books), though she'd love it if you asked her about Jupiter's moons. She currently lives in California with her family and an open view of the sky.

A moment from Rocket Ship, Solo Trip, illustrated by Scott Magoon, showing Rocket having just landed proudly back on Earth.
From Rocket Ship, Solo Trip, illustrated by Scott Magoon

In the news

Looking for more stories? Below is a collection of interviews, articles, podcasts, and webinars in which I was lucky enough to be featured, including from outside the writing world...

Bay Area Parent, May 2024

May 1, 2024

Check out pages 14-15 for my first op-ed in which I share a launch plan for success in helping kids navigate new experiences, featuring quotes from Rocket Ship, Solo Trip!

The Joys of Booking

May 31, 2024

Scott Magoon and I share making-of-Rocket-Ship details and cosmic musings in this Q&A interview, paired with space-themed recipes!

Reading With Your Kids podcast

March 29, 2024

I share stories about my own firsts as a parent and what I've learned along the way, including the importance of language in helping us understand our emotions.

YA Books Central interview for Rocket Ship, Solo Trip!

February 29, 2024

In this Q&A, I share my approach to honing my picture book voice, a #writinghack involving vacuuming, and which fandom I wish I could write for some day.

The Magoon Tribune: Chiara Colombi is Ready for Takeoff!

February 27, 2024

Scott Magoon tossed a number of space-themed questions my way that made for a stellar—and very fun—launch-day interview!

Maria Marshall's The Picture Book Buzz

February 28, 2024

Learn the story behind the story of Rocket Ship, Solo Trip, along with tidbits about my writing habits and favorite childhood reads!

Tara Lazar's Storystorm Event

January 10, 2024

In my guest article for Storystorm 2024, I offer a hands-on prompt to inspire new story ideation based on combining a series of unrelated, small steps. It's one small step for Storystormers...one giant leap for Storystorming!

Podcast: Test Guild

July 3, 2022

Listen to me nerd out on data synthesis, data privacy, and why software developers shouldn't be using real data to build and test the apps that we all use every day. It's super interesting, I promise!

Blog: Tuesday From the Trenches

September 30, 2021

I share my querying journey that landed me my (first) agent, on fellow kidlit author Kailei Pew's blog. Lots of details around my numbers, timeline, and process.

Let's connect

If you're looking for occasional nuggets of writing wisdom and/or whimsy, I'm mostly on Bluesky these days (the @ icon to the right), and I'd love to see you there.