«One Christmas Eve, as we were preparing for another special day, my children handed me a two pieces of paper – beautiful, carefully-crafted letters to Santa. 
This is when I decided that, rather than post these letters and lose them forever, they deserved to be kept as a family heirloom and raw display of purity.»

«My children were too young to write so they had drawn each of the presents they wanted. It had obviously taken them both a long time and, through this outpouring of their hearts and the anticipated magic of what was to come, I came to see that Christmas provides some of the purest and most special displays of the innocence of childhood.» 

Roque's goal with The First Letters of Christmas is to create Christmases for life, and not just for Christmas. He wants families to have a book through which they can come together to enjoy a traditional festive story, while also preserving the most heart-warming moments of childhood that end up scratched onto bits of paper.

«The experience of my children handing me their first letters is etched into my mind forever; a feeling so magical in its own right that I believe every family should experience it.»

Roque Fernandez is very much the “Accidental Author”; he never had a dream of putting pen to paper. It was only the prospect of losing something very precious to him that he felt the need to be creative.

Humble working-class Middle England roots (Leicester to be exact) has given him the belief and desire to ensure that his children have better prospects than he did.

His father was an inspirational source of confidence and opened his eyes to being in charge off his own work life and destiny. His mother was the “open door, open kitchen” archetypal mother who replaced the lavish toys that she could not afford with an unlimited source of love, nurture and, most importantly, self-belief. Plus lots of great food, of course.
Both these character traits come through in his debut book, with Mrs Claus underpinning his own mum’s monumental efforts to make sure each and every Christmas was the best one ever.

It is Roque’s passion to ensure that not only his children but every child is filled with the same self-belief as taught to him by his parents.