Lucia M. Gonzalez

Lucia M. Gonzalez was born in Cuba, in a very small town with a very long name, Caimito del Guayabal. She came with her parents and sister to the United States at the age of 12, in 1970. Lucia has lived in Miami, Florida, California, Spain, and Venezuela.

An accomplished storyteller, puppeteer, and children's librarian, Lucia M. Gonzalez started her career in library services to children in 1987 after receiving the Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara and while pursuing her Masters in Library Science at the University of South Florida. Lucia is the author of three award-winning bilingual books, The Bossy Gallito (Scholastic, 1994), winner of the Pura Belpré Children's Literature Honor Medal and among New York Public Library's 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know, and Señor Cat's Romance and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America, an Americas Award Commended Title. Gonzalez was named the Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni by the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science for 1998. Gonzalez's new book, The Storyteller's Candle (Children's Book Press, 2008) is a bilingual picture book illustrated by Lulu Delacre, winner of the 2008 Pura Belpré Children's Literature Honor Medal.