Donna Barba Higuera

Donna Barba Higuera is an American author of middle grade and picture books whose work blends folklore, science fiction, and personal experience. She grew up in a small desert town in Central California, later earning a biology degree from California State University, Bakersfield and a doctorate in optometry from the Southern California College of Optometry before establishing a long-standing optometry career in Washington State. Her middle-grade novel The Last Cuentista won the 2022 Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpré Youth Author Award, and has been widely recognized on best-of-the-year lists.

Higuera’s debut novel Lupe Wong Won’t Dance received a Pura Belpré Honor, a PNBA award, and the Sid Fleischman Award for humor. She is also the author of the picture books El Cucuy Is Scared, Too! and The Yellow Handkerchief, as well as the middle-grade novel Alebrijes. Higuera lives in Washington State, in the Pacific Northwest, with her family and pets, and continues to write stories that draw on Mexican American folklore, history, and her own life, often featuring bilingual and Spanglish narrative voices.