Mayra Dole Mayra Dole was born in Marianao, Cuba, and raised in a Cuban barrio outside Miami. A prolific author, an accomplished and passionate musician, and an advocate for the differently-abled, Mayra has also been a dancer, landscape designer, and hairdresser. She lives in Coral Gables, Florida. Tonel is a visual artist and art critic who was born in Havana, Cuba, where he illustrated several children's books. His work for grownups has been exhibited in North and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. He received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities and a John S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for painting and installation art. He lives and teaches in Vancouver, British Columbia.