Margarita Engle is the national Young People’s Poet Laureate, and the first Latino to receive that honor. She is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, including The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner, and The Lightning Dreamer, a PEN Literary Award for Young Adult Literature winner.

Her verse memoir, Enchanted Air, 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 book Drum Dream Girl received the Charlotte Zolotow Award. Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives. She continues to visit Cuba as often as she can.

Rafael Lopez uses his hands and imagination to create award-winning children's books and murals around the world. He has been awarded the Pura Belpr medal from the American Library Association two times, for Drum Dream Girl and Book Fiesta.

Born and raised in Mexico City to architect parents, Rafael grew up immersed in the rich visual heritage, vivid color, music, and surrealism of his native culture. He enjoys working hand in hand with children, librarians, and teachers to paint community-based murals in neighborhoods.

Rafael divides his time and collects ideas in his studios in colonial San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and downtown San Diego, California, where he lives with his wife and son.