Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate the trailblazers who have and continue to shape a brighter and more equitable future. I am thrilled to highlight Latina authors doing just that on and off the page. These storytellers write books while creating opportunities, uplifting communities, and paving the way for future generations. Their words inspire, educate, and empower, but their impact doesn’t stop there.

The Latina authors on this list are award-winning authors and fierce advocates for change. Through educational initiatives and community activism, they use their platforms to amplify diverse voices. They also use them to support the next wave of Latina creators. Their dedication extends beyond their own success, proving that representation in publishing isn’t just about who gets published. It’s about who they uplift along the way.

Aida Salazar

Aida Salazar is an award-winning author, translator, and arts activist whose writings for adults and children explore identity and social justice issues.

This Latina author is “motivated by the desire to help make the world a more empathetic, peaceful, and loving place.” She is the author of the critically acclaimed middle-grade verse novel “The Moon Within” (International Latino Book Award Gold Medal).

Aida wrote and received awards for “Land of the Cranes” as well as “A Seed In The Sun,” “Ala Rise.” Similarly, Aida wrote “Ultraviolet.” And her picture book “Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter” won the Caldecott Honor, Malka Penn Award, and the International Latino Book Awards Gold Medal.

Aida’s motivation to keep writing is “the will to honor the legacy and sacrifice of my ancestors,” she shared. “Especially the women, who endured colonization and survived by speaking for, to, and through our wounds, our memory and existence, and our triumphs.” Aida is also a mother. So she finds time to write between organizing, appointments, school drop-offs, kid pickups, laundry, cooking, and administrative tasks. “I spend my time immersed in reading, researching, and living,” she shared. “After all, it is in the practice of living, with its many emotions, sensations, and illuminations, that as a writer, I draw from the most.”

Alexandra Villasante

Alexandra Villasante has always been a storyteller. With a BFA in Painting and an MA in Combined Media, she can make art out of anything. Her debut Young Adult novel, “The Grief Keeper,”  was a Fall 2019 Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and winner of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s Literature/Young Adult Fiction. Alex’s next young adult novel, “Fireblooms,” is an absorbing speculative Queer YA romance. The story is set in a town that uses technology to prevent hate speech and bullying. It comes out on September 30th, 2025. 

Beyond her work as an author, Alex is a co-founder of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival. This non-profit connects Latinx authors and illustrators with readers and educators in classrooms around the globe. Because of the time, energy, and love of countless volunteers, the festival has continued to foster a love of story and literacy, increased empathy, and conversations among educators, students, and book lovers while uplifting the voices of Latinx kid-lit book creators. 

And there is more.

Alex co-founded the LKBF Latinx Storytellers Conference, an annual in-person gathering of Latinx children and adult book writers and illustrators. Hundreds of Latinx storytellers enjoy craft masterclasses and professional development sessions. They also have access to hard-to-reach industry professionals such as publishers, editors, and literary agents. 

When she’s not writing, planning, or painting, Alex works for the Highlights Foundation. The organization amplifies the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire them to become their best selves. She is also an incredible mom. 

“I write so that I can be understood and understand,” Alex shared with me. “I want that same joyful understanding for kids who are like me and not like me. That’s why I keep writing, even when it’s hard.”

Because she is so generous, she offered advice to those seeking publication. “Know, in your heart and soul, that you are enough. Your words may need polishing, and you may need to work hard at craft. That’s all stuff that you can improve (and should!). But you, amor, are enough just where you are right now, and nothing can change that.”

Ashley K. Stoyanov Ojeda

Ashley K. Stoyanov Ojeda works with clients to create, develop, and execute their business development and communications strategy. Before her entrepreneurship journey, she was a singer and songwriter. She also worked on community marketing teams, in business development, public relations, and partnerships.

She is the author of Jefa In Training, the First Spanglish Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Your Business. I am one of the thousands of Latinas this knowledge has already transformed. Ashley encourages us to, “Lean into this journey, embrace the challenges, celebrate the victories, and always remember that you have a community standing with you. The tools you need to thrive are within these pages and within you. I cannot wait to see the businesses, ideas, and legacies that will be born from your brilliance.”

Ashley told me, “Writing has always been a form of therapy for me, but more importantly, it’s one of the most powerful ways I know to create change. Especially now, when so many vital programs and initiatives are being cut, and the work of those supporting underrepresented communities is at risk, writing often feels like one of the few tools I have left. It allows me to amplify voices, preserve stories, and advocate for the spaces and people that matter most.” 

Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez

Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez is a proud first-generation American, first-generation college graduate, and first-generation wealth builder. She is your financial educator and bestselling author of Cultura & Cash! She is on a mission to empower first-generation students and young professionals of color entering the workplace to manage their money confidently, pay off debt, build generational wealth, and gain financial freedom. 

I asked Giovanna what inspired her life-changing book, and she said, “I wrote Cultura & Cash after reading so many personal finance books and still having money issues with my family…I realized there was a cultural difference in how the typical white middle-class American manages their money vs most collectivist cultures in Latin America. Neither is right or wrong, they are just different. As a bicultural Latina, I saw the need for culturally relevant money education to help us manage our money. 

Giovanna is not only are you an author, but a social media expert. I asked her to share 3 social media tips for Latine Creators – so you’re welcome in advance:

  • Don’t pressure yourself to be on every single platform. It’s unsustainable. Pick 3-4 platforms you enjoy most and that your ideal audience uses, and focus your energy there. 
  • Repurposing is key! I actively post on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. I will usually make a video for Instagram, repurpose it to TikTok with TikTok native text, and reuse the same content to make a long caption post with an image on LinkedIn. Work smarter, not harder!
  • Dealing with haters is part of having a personal brand and showing up online. Don’t let it personally affect you. Remind yourself that these people don’t know you personally and that happy people don’t go around spewing hate on the internet. 

Ismee Williams 

Ismée Williams is an award-winning author of books about multicultural characters that pack an emotional punch. Her novel This Train Is Being Held is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and Gold Medal recipient of the International Latino Book Award for Best Young Adult Romance; NYC teens from opposite sides of the tracks (literally) fall in love while trying to manage family expectations and their chaotic lives. Her works include Water In May (YA) and Abuelo, the Sea, and Me (picture book).

Ismée co-founded the non-profit Latinx Kidlit Book Festival, whose mission is to uplift Latinx voices while bringing these diverse stories to all students and educators to increase representation, empathy, and connection. Ismée is also a pediatric cardiologist and scientific researcher who practiced and taught at Columbia University Medical Center for 15 years. She still sees patients at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx. 

Ismee has excellent advice for aspiring authors: “Fill your life with experience and say ‘yes’ to as many opportunities as you are able to, as inspiration can come from surprising sources. Also, find your community. But mostly, don’t give up. Writing is hard work and so is publishing. It took me five years of writing and learning about the publishing world before I found an agent and sold my first YA novel…Just keep finding inspiration and following it. Keep carving out time in your life to follow your art.”

Margarita Engle

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American award-winning author of many verse novels. She was born in Los Angeles but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers spent with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany and creative writing. 

Her books include Wild Dreamers, a Pura Belpré Honor book that was also longlisted for the National Book Award; Wings in the Wild, an International Latino Book Award Gold Medal, and The Surrender Tree, which received a Newbery Honor. Other awards include Pura Belpré Medals, Walter Honors, Américas Awards, Jane Addams Award, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt Prize. She served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Her most recent picture book is Eloísa’s Musical Window, and her next verse novel is Island Creatures.

I asked Margarita what motivates her to write. She said, “I love poetry and the writing process. It’s a feeling that is often described as ‘flow,’ when creativity is so all-consuming that the poet loses any sense of time and place. In addition, I treasure the chance to communicate with the future by interacting with young readers through the open spaces between stanzas and poems on the page.”

She also shared some honest advice for those seeking publication: “My creative writing professor was Dr. Tomás Rivera, the great poet and educator. He taught me to write without worrying about whether my work would ever be published, so that’s my advice: write because you love the writing process and have something to say, not because you’re seeking any form of success. My second would be to read, read, read!”

Meg Medina

Meg Medina is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, an award-winning author who showed the literacy space that Latinx books are essential and marketable, paving the way for future authors. She served as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She is the author of the Newbery Medal-winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which was also a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist, and which was followed by two more acclaimed books about the Suárez family: Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool. 

Her young adult novels include Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award, and which was published in 2023 as a graphic novel illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas; Burn Baby Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. 

She is also the author of picture books No More Señora Mimí / No más Señora Mimí, Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away / Evelyn del Rey se muda, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, Jumpstart’s 2020 Read for the Record selection; Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor Book; and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award.

Meg Medina On Writing

I asked Meg Medina what motivates her to keep writing. She shared, “Seeing the impact that reading can make on kids as they grow up. I love it when readers ask me hard questions about the characters or when they relate my story to something happening in their own lives. It reaffirms my belief that having a reading life can help kids grow their self-reflection and regulation skills.” I have been lucky enough to be part of the Latinx KidLit Book Festival, and I’ve seen Meg in action – she is incredible at engaging young readers.

Selfishly, I asked this literary legend for advice. Medina said, “There’s no substitute for craft, so above all, constantly look for ways to improve and stretch your skills as a writer. Take classes, read hard, experiment with writing in new formats, make relationships with trusted beta readers or with a good critique group for feedback as you develop your writing chops.” 

I could not agree more with this. I enjoy taking classes the Writer’s Digest and the Highlights Foundation offer. Also, my critique partners are crucial to my writing process. Then Meg gave us bonus advice, “But in terms of the business side, I’d say to join a respected writing community – Las Musas, SCBWI, KWELI, for instance. That’s where you’ll network and learn the basics of the business to help you break in properly with a reputable agent.”

M. García Peña / Mia García

Mia García was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She got her MFA at The New School and is the author of Even If the Sky Falls, The Resolutions, and the forthcoming picture book When We Find Her. 

García is a founding member of the artist collective Las Musas Books, which aims to spotlight the contributions of Latinx authors of children’s literature. She launched the mentorship branch of Las Musas Books, which is the program that gave me the confidence to pursue publishing under the mentorship and care of Donna Barba Higuera. 

Without Mia, I would not be where I am today. She is also crucial to ensuring that the Latinx KidLit Book Festival is a success year after year. She does this all with tremendous humility. I was able to chat with Mia, and she shared some incredible advice for those seeking publication: “Publishing is a business. Writing is a craft. Do not let publishing determine your value as a writer or that of your work. Work on your craft, study your contemporaries, not just the classics, and read within and outside your age categories and genres. If you want to be a traditionally published writer, you must be persistent. Keep going and work on your art.”

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