A father of two, Sergio Liden has been writing children’s books since 2003. Married since 1992, Sergio lives with his family in Los Angeles, California. Sergio’s inspiration for writing came after the birth of his daughter. One morning while she was lying on the floor, barely able to lift her head, Sergio, a “giant” at 6’5” and a half, lay next to her and at that exact moment started seeing the world from his daughter’s perspective. That’s when Sergio became a ‘dad’.
Sergio’s childhood was far from a fairytale. His first drink was at age 6 and he wasn’t sober until after he turned 17. His early years included being institutionalized 5 times and bouts with depression so extreme that he contemplated and attempted suicide multiple times before turning 18. He was also homeless for almost an entire year. Sergio asked himself the obvious question…”Why me? Why did I have to endure so many traumas in my life?” The answer was apparent after he wrote his autobiography Dr. Me, a screenplay which chronicled his life between the ages of 7 and 17. Afraid of being rejected and exposing the skeletons in his closet made it very difficult to share his script. When Sergio did have the courage to share it, he was bewildered with the responses. People began sharing secrets with him that they never told anybody else. Sergio realized that by sharing his own pain, that others would open up to him and share the stories and shame they buried in their own personal closets. He became their ‘counselor’.
Sergio worked in the Food and Beverage industry and then on infomercials as a producer and director. Six months after Sergio’s son was born, Sergio quit working the 16 hour days because of the problems his son was having at daycare. Since his wife’s job carried the medical benefits, it made the most sense for him to quit his job. This gave Sergio the greatest gift of his life- the ability to stay home with their kids and learn what day-to-day parenting was all about. Two years later their son was officially diagnosed with autism.
Going back to that day on the floor with his daughter… Sergio thought about all the adults he had helped after his long life of pain and decided he wanted to help children before they started building the emotional walls that follow them into adulthood. The common denominator for all those who came to him for advice was that they all felt that they were alone in their pain. “Children are much smarter than we give them credit for,” he says, “and they understand the problems that we are going through- both the positive and negative changes in our lives.” To share that message, Sergio began writing children’s picture books that dealt with the very issues people were dealing with. The stories were written in a rhythmic style with only two lines of text per page to keep even very young children engaged. The meaning and depth of the stories carries over to their parents. As a parent, Sergio knew that if he could get something out of a book his children were reading, then there was a much better chance that together they would regularly engage in that activity.
