Alma Flor Ada (almaflorada.com) is a Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco who has devoted her life to advocacy for peace by promoting a pedagogy oriented to personal realization and social justice. A former Radcliffe Scholar at Harvard University and Fulbright Research Scholar, she is an internationally reknowned speaker.

Her numerous children's books of poetry, narrative, folklore and nonfiction have received prestigious awards including the Christopher Award and Pura Belpre Award. In 2012 she received the Virginia Hamilton Award in recognition of her body of work for children. In 2014 the Mexican Government honored her with the prestigious OHTLI Award for her services to the Mexican communities in the United States.