Anika Aldamuy Denise: My name is Anika Aldamuy Denise, and Aldamuy is my maiden name. I didn't use it on my first few books because I partnered with my husband whose last name is Denise. So we did written by Anika Denise or by Anika and Christopher Denise. But I always regretted not putting my maiden name on my first books. And then I figured, what the heck, I can start now. So I did.

And Aldamuy, that side of the family is Puerto Rican. Aldamuy is not a common name in Puerto Rico by any stretch, not as common as maybe Diaz or Sanchez or one of the names that you would immediately recognize as being Latinx. I've always been proud that it's different, but sometimes I have to explain where I'm from because of that. My family will tell you, we have an expression and we say "Aldamuy strong" or "Happily ever Aldamuy" at weddings and celebrations. So we take a lot of pride in our name and our heritage.

My first name, Anika, a lot of people mispronounce it because they see the way it's spelled and they think it's "AHNN-IK-AH". My parents met when they were in college and there was a woman that they went to school with. There was very few students of color. There was a woman who was West African, and that was her name. They loved it so much that when they had me, they named me after her. My middle name is Maria. So growing up, I was Anika Maria Aldamuy.

Denise is my husband's last name. My children have that name. So I took it and use it professionally, and also because I wanted to have the same last name as my three daughters. I love all three of those names. They're interesting because they are all so different and they all come from different places in the world. They've come together, and that's me. And I'm proud of the story that each three of my names tell.