Santiago CasaresMeg Medina is an award-winning Cuban American author who writes picture books, middle grade, and YA fiction. She is the author of: Burn Baby Burn, long listed for the 2016 National Book Award and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize and the Los Angeles Bok Prize; Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, winner of the 2014 Pura Belpré Award, the 2013 CYBILS Fiction award and the International Latino Book Award for young adults; The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, a 2012 Bank Street Best Book Mango, Abuela and Me, winner of the 2016 Pura Belpré Award honor medal for both writing and illustration; Tía Isa Wants a Car, winner of he 2012 Ezra Jack Keats New Writers medal Her most recent middle grade novel is Merci Suárez Changes Gears which was published in September 2018 by Candlewick Press. It has received five starred reviews and is a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist. Meg's work examines how cultures intersect, as seen through the eyes of young people. She brings to audiences stories that speak to both what is unique in Latino culture and to the qualities that are universal. Her favorite protagonists are strong girls. In March 2014, she was recognized as one of the CNN 10 Visionary Women in America. In November 2014, she was named one of Latino Stories Top Ten Latino Authors to Watch. In 2017, she was named, along with Gigi Amateau, to the Southerners of the Year list by Southern Living Magazine. When she is not writing, Meg works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth and/or literacy. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia. Read More Read Less