Introduce yourself; who are you and what types of books do you write?
Hi! My name is Maximiliano Moreno Sastre, but I’m better known simply as Max. I was born in London, Ontario, in 2006 to a family of Colombian immigrants. I currently live in Surrey, BC. Ever since childhood, I have been noted for expressing a deep love for writing. At 16, I published my first book: a short poetry book titled My Little Hannah-Marie. In January of 2025, my second book, my award winning-short story, Ain’t No Way This Is Real, was published. After graduating high school, I decided to pursue my writing career and also major in psychology to become a Youth Therapist. 
What was the inspiration behind writing your first book?
My inspiration for writing my first book is my childhood. I was a shy, quiet kid, very polar to the outgoing, chatty person I am now. But thanks to someone special who came into my life, I was able to open up more. And my childhood really was a period of discovery who I am.
What did you learn while writing your second book?
I learned a lot about myself when I wrote Ain’t No Way This Is Real. I was able to realize and learn I was a strong and confident person. I was able to learn I was resilient, and I also realized and learned how much my words heal and open people’s eyes. And that is my drive when I write my stories: To entertain people. To inspire people. To open people’s eyes.
What is the most rewarding part of being an author?
I think the most rewarding part of being an author is seeing how much my stories are making an impact on people. I particularly see how much people resonate and connect with Ain’t No Way This Is Real and connect so deeply with the story and how much it has opened their eyes and even healed them. That is what I want to do as an author, not just share and tell my stories and have people like them, but also they are able to be impacted so deeply by them.
What elements do you think make for a good story?
I think the key elements to making a good story is you have the drive and motivation to write it. If you don’t and you're just writing, the story won’t have any spirit or make sense, or even sound human. Writing a story, you must be motivated to write it.
What is the hardest part of being an author for you?
I think the hardest part of being an author is trying to find a balance between your everyday life and the life of being an author. Writing, book talks/signings, meeting with book stores, venues, organizing and promoting can be grueling and hard, especially if you go to college and work at the same time.
What is your current writing project?
As of right now I am currently in between 3 projects! (which I am fully aware is insane, but that’s a writer’s life in a nutshell!) ‘The Spirit of Our Mothers’ follows my Great-grandmother’s life as a young girl living on a little ranch in Restrepo, Colombia, in the 1930s-40s, and my Grandmother, my Mother and all the women in my maternal side of my family. ‘What We Did To Survive’ (working title) follows a Colombian-liberal family living in Bogota in 1964, and follows their story of survival as they scatter across the country during the Colombian Conflict and try to stay one step ahead to find their way back to each other. Loosely based on my own-family’s stories. ‘Valiant Days’ is a story I’ve been working on since I was 15. I recently went back and decided to re-edit the chapters I’ve done so far and fix the plot. It is a multi-perspective story that follows a friend group (loosely based off my own friend group) as they go through grade 10 together and experience their friendship drama, high school and family pressures, social pressures and even romances.
What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best advice I’ve ever gotten related to writing has to come from my therapist. She told me this phrase when I was going through the hardest time in my life: “Writing isn’t just a gift. It’s also a healing tool. It takes your pain and creates something beautiful.” That alone motivated me to write my award-winning short story, “Ain’t No Way This Is Real.” By her telling me that, she was able to help me open my eyes and realize I had the power to create beautiful stories.
Where can readers discover more about you and your books?
You can learn more about me and my upcoming books through my social media linked below: