Welcome
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American winner of the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino. Her award winning young adult novels in verse include The Surrender Tree, The Poet Slave of Cuba, Tropical Secrets, and The Firefly Letters.
Engle’s most recent book are The Lightning Dreamer and When You Wander.
Her new chapter book, Mountain Dog, will be published in August 2013.
She lives in central California, where she enjoys helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search and rescue dog training programs.
Photo © Marshall W. Johnson
News
Upcoming Appearances
Join Margarita at these events:
- March 13-15, 2014
Margarita has been invited as a speaker at the National Latino Children's Literature Conference, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. - April 21-23, 2014
Margarita has been invited as a speaker at the The Poetry Center, University of Arizona, Tucson.
2014 Events:
Don't Miss...
Follow this link to hear Margarita sharing some of the backstory for The Wild Book.
More of Margarita's video interview with Colorín Colorado at their website.
Margarita's appearance at the at the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
May 10, 2013
A new paperback edition of Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories, with a new and very cute cover, will be released on May 21.
April 30, 2013
Click here to read Kirkus Reviews of Margarita's new picture books,When You Wander.
April 24, 2013
NBCLatino choseMargarita's The Wild Book as one of five bilingual books recommended for National Poetry Month. Click here to read the full article.
Margarita's interview on The Lightning Dreamer with Kidsbiographer's Blog, can be read through this link.
April 11, 2013
Enid Lee, co-editor of Beyond Heroes and Holidays, selected three titles at Teaching for Change's bookstore at Busboys and Poets while in town yesterday: "Surrender Tree" by Margarita Engle, "There Is Nothing Wrong with Black Students" by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, and the graphic novel version of "Race to Incarcerate". Learn about the work of Enid Lee.
April 10, 2013
Some great review and interview on Margarita's new book, The Lightning Dreamer, from Kids Biographer and Anne Marie O'Brien's World Reads.
April 7, 2013
Margarita will be participating in Latinas4LatinoLiterature's Día Blog Hop. Her article will be posted on April 12.
UPDATE: The link for Margarita's article.
April 5, 2013
Margarita's haiku is featured on tinywords, an international, daily magazine of haiku and micropoetry.
March 22, 2013
Visit Campaign for the American Reader blog to read two articles by Margarita:
Also, check out this video of Margarita's interview with CBS 47 on March 21, 2013:
March 18, 2013
Margarita's featured guest post is up on Kidlit Women's History Month. Her interview on The Lightning Dreamer can also be read on The Hispanic Reader.
March 6, 2013
Update! The paperback edition of The Wild Book will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in January 2014.
March 2, 2013
- Margarita will guest blog on couple of sites about The Lightning Dreamer. Visit Women's History Month and The Hispanic Reader, on March 19.
- Margarita served as the judge for the Oregon Book Awards' Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature. Winners will be announced on their website in April.
- She also served as one of the round one judges for School Library Journal's Battle of the Books, where Margarita's selection will be posted on March 12. The winning book will be announced on their website in April.
- One of Margarita's haiku was included in Haiku 21, an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku (edited by Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, 2011, Modern Haiku Press).
- Two of Margarita's poems are included in a new poetry anthology for middle school-age children compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Click here for more information about the book.
February 25, 2013
Click here to watch Margarita receiving the 2012 Americas Award for Children and Young Adult Literature, at the Library of Congress.
February 15, 2013
A glowing review for The Lightning Dreamer from the Kirkus Review. Read it here.
February 8, 2013
Margarita spoke to 1400 children, ranging from 3rd grade through middle school, as part of the amazing Words Take Wing program at U.C. Davis. She was also featured for the event, by local news outlet, The Davis Enterprise. Read the article here.
January 30, 2013
The Wild Book won the 2013 Mock Belpre from the Heartland chapter of Reforma, The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking.
January 20, 2013
Margarita had a wonderful time speaking about The Firefly Letters to an enthusiastic Fresno area book club hosted by Denise Sciandra on January 17. She was amazed and grateful for the ease with which this particular book crosses over from young adult reading to women's book clubs!
The Korean edition of Tropical Secrets will be released in March by Borim Press.
January 15, 2013
A wonderful review of The Wild Book on Reforma website. Reforma is an organization that promotes library and information services to the Latinos and Spanish speaking.
The Wild Book is also featured on Poetry for Children blog as one of the favorite poetry for young people 2012 list.
Paperback edition of The Wild Book will be released by Harcourt this fall.
January 10, 2013
The Lightning Dreamer was reviewed and featured in Books to Build Connections to Latino Culture for K-10 article, on School Library Journal's website.
January 1, 2013
Visit Haiku Prayer's website to read the first three tanka of Margarita's haiku.
In Stores Now
