Lucia M. Gonzalez is a children's author and librarian. In 2020 she was elected as president of the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association. She was president of REFORMA in 2010-2011.

Personal life

She was born in Caimito del Guayabal, Cuba. She moved with her parents and sister to the United States in 1970, at the age of 12. Since then she has lived in Florida, California, Spain and Venezuela.

Education

She attended North Miami Senior High (1976) She received her Bachelor of Arts in History from University of California, Santa Barbara in July 1983, And her Master of Arts, in Library and Information Science, from the School of Information, University of South Florida Tampa Bay, Florida, in April 1991.

Career

An accomplished storyteller, puppeteer, and children's librarian, 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. She is the author of the bilingual books The Bossy Gallito winner of the Pura Belpré Award for Children's Literature Honor Medal and named one of 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 1998 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumna by the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science. Her book, The Storyteller's Candle is a bilingual picture book illustrated by Lulu Delacre, winner of the 2008 Pura Belpré Children's Literature Honor Medal.

Professional library experience

Professional affiliations

Presentations highlights

Awards and honors

Publications