Margarita Engle is the Cuban American author of many books including the verse novels Rima’s Rebellion; Your Heart, My Sky; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; The Lightning Dreamer; and Wild Dreamers, a Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor book. Her verse memoirs include Soaring Earth and Enchanted Air, which received the Pura Belpré Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor, and was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, among others. Her picture books include Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Flying Girl. Visit her at MargaritaEngle.com.
Rafael López was born and raised in Mexico, a place that has always influenced the vivid colors and shapes in his artwork. He now creates community-based mural projects around the world and illustrates acclaimed children’s books including The Day You Begin, Bravo!, Drum Dream Girl, We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands, Book Fiesta!, and Dancing Hands. Rafael divides his time between Mexico and California. Visit him at RafaelLopez.com.
Alexis Romay is the author of two novels and two books of poetry. His essays and opinion pieces have been published by NBC News, World Literature Today, Museum of Modern Art, El Nuevo Herald, Latino Rebels, Hypermedia Magazine, Replicante, Letras Libres, and other outlets. He has written lyrics for Paquito D’Rivera and translated over forty picture books, as well as novels by Ana Veciana-Suarez, Margarita Engle, Miguel Correa Mujica, Meg Medina, Stuart Gibbs, and Adrianna Cuevas. He lives in New Jersey with his family.