Rosie Awori (LJI)
The balance of a youthful imagination and adult professionalism is crucial in captivating young readers. Latoya Belfon has learned this and more on her journey as an author.
She says after nearly 20 years she has finally realized her dream of becoming and children’s author.
“I started writing a long time ago, but I kind of sat on my book ideas for while in the meantime, going to school and living life,” Belfon narrates to the CONTACT.
With her writing aspirations sat on the back burner, the young Montrealer went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Education from McGill University.
She credits her son as the reason she decided to revisit her dreams of writing and later on publishing her first book.
“How would I encourage him to go after his dreams if I don’t show him by example?”
And although the task seemed hard, she used the downtime provided by the pandemic and picked up her manuscripts, and got to work.
“I spent a lot of time trying to find an illustrator and it wasn’t working and so I decided to use the software I used for designing clothes to do it.
Her hard work has paid off. Now Belfon has three children’s books, Mom Can You Tell Me, Story, Color Me Coco and I Just Love Christmas, and a coloring book as part of her writing portfolio.
She stands proudly as an author as she aspired to be for much of her life.
She has also become adept at it and is prolific.
“For the month of December, I have been releasing a book a week, online,” she says.
Belfon is looking forward to creating more stories for children like her son with positive and uplifting themes.
For more information on Latoya Belfon’s books visit: http;//Instagram.com/labworkspublishing
