Pam.Muñoz Ryan author page

Pam.Muñoz Ryan biography

Pam Muñoz Ryan grew up in California’s San Joaquin Valley and began using the public library regularly during hot summers, an experience connected with her early interest in reading and books. She studied at San Diego State University, where she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She writes for young people, with work including Esperanza Rising, Becoming Naomi León, Riding Freedom, Paint the Wind, The Dreamer, Echo and Solimar.

Esperanza Rising is one of her best-known novels for middle-grade readers. It won the Pura Belpré Medal and the Jane Addams Peace Award, and it was named an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults and an Americas Award Honor Book. The story follows Esperanza after she leaves Mexico for California during the Great Depression.

The Dreamer, illustrated by Peter Sís, was released on 1 April 2010 and is a fictionalised profile of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Echo, illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova, was released on 24 February 2015; the novel moves across Germany, Pennsylvania, Southern California and New York, and it became a Newbery Honor Book and Kirkus Prize winner.

Ryan has received the National Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award and the Ludington Award. Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs was published by Disney Publishing Group on 31 January 2023.