When Kianny Antigua’s daughter Mía was born with straight hair that later began to coil, the Dartmouth senior lecturer faced a familiar challenge. Negative comments about her daughter’s curls echoed the painful messages Antigua had absorbed as a child about beauty standards.
“My child was perfect and beautiful,” recalls Antigua, who teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. “I said to myself, ‘This ends here.’”
That moment of maternal resolve sparked Greña / Crazy Hair, Antigua’s bilingual children’s book celebrating curly hair and self-love. The book launched what would become an extensive series centered on Kiara, a young, curly-haired girl who embodies the acceptance Antigua wished for in her own childhood.
“Kiara is the kid I wish I were,” Antigua says, according to the college. “Loved as is. Protected. Free.”
Antigua initially self-published Greña / Crazy Hair before partnering with Sussman Education / Lightswitch Learning, a publisher that shared her vision for inclusive children’s literature. The collaboration produced additional bilingual titles including Kiara y el virus / Kiara and the Virus and Kiara se muda a un barrio nuevo / Kiara Moves to a New Neighborhood. Her upcoming release, Kiara y todo lo que migra / Kiara and Everything That Migrates, will be published this year.
The prolific author has now written 29 children’s books, many bilingual, alongside short stories, poetry collections, anthologies, microfiction, and a novel. She also works as an independent translator.
Antigua’s path to children’s literature began years before Mía’s birth, rooted in another family connection. Unable to sleep one night, she sat in darkness and wrote Nina Manina, the story of a little girl who initially fears her aunt’s curly hair before discovering the magic of her own. Though the story remained unpublished for over a decade, the experience proved pivotal.
“When I had my daughter, her curiosity, joy, and pure sincerity sparked the light I felt that night in the dark,” Antigua says, according to the college. “And I began to write and publish for children.”
Mía continues to inspire her mother’s work. The first book in Antigua’s series named after her daughter, Mía, Esteban y las nuevas palabras / Mía, Esteban and the New Words, emerged from observing Mía kiss a smelly baby goat at a fair without hesitation.
“That moment, her inability to discriminate, is still present in my core,” Antigua says, according to the college.
Her stories consistently encourage children to embrace their authentic selves through affirming messages and culturally rich characters marked by curiosity, kindness, and openness. Her newest book, ¡Mía y un mundo de amistades!, features global friendships with characters from Zimbabwe, Finland, Ecuador, and Yemen.
Antigua’s reverence for young minds extends beyond her writing into her Dartmouth classroom, where she integrates storytelling techniques to explain concepts and engage students. This approach reflects lessons from her own undergraduate experience.
“Relatable stories made a difference for me in terms of both motivation and retention,” she says, according to the college.
Students respond positively to her methods. Fatma Al Arbawi ‘27 credits Antigua’s approach with inspiring her development as both writer and thinker.
“It doesn’t cease to amaze me how magnificent and brilliant and endless the brain of a child is,” Antigua says, according to the college. “They ask brilliant questions, have the absolute best answers, and are masters at solving problems from any perspective.”
For Antigua, writing for young readers represents one of her deepest professional joys, combining her dual passions for storytelling and education while breaking cycles of shame that shaped her own childhood experience.
