Meg Medina author page

Meg Medina biography

Meg Medina writes books for children and teenagers. She was the eighth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Her work includes the middle-grade Merci Suárez trilogy, the young adult novels Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, Burn Baby Burn and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, and picture books including Mango, Abuela, and Me and Tía Isa Wants a Car.

Merci Suárez Changes Gears was published by Candlewick on 11 September 2018 for readers aged 9 to 12. The novel won the 2019 Newbery Medal and was a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist for Young Readers’ Literature. The Merci Suárez trilogy continues with Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass won a Pura Belpré Author Award. A graphic-novel edition of the story, adapted and illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas, was published on 5 September 2023. Burn Baby Burn was longlisted for the National Book Award, shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Medina’s picture book Mango, Abuela, and Me was both a Pura Belpré Author Honor Book and a Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book. Tía Isa Wants a Car won the Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award. Her later picture books include Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away and No More Señora Mimí, and her fantasy novel Graciela in the Abyss was recognised as a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly.