Margarita Engle

Margarita Engle is a Cuban-American author and poet born in Los Angeles, California, who spent childhood summers in Cuba and has written extensively about Cuban and Latino history and culture. Her books include Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics and Hopeful Heroes: More Poems About Amazing Latinos, along with acclaimed works such as The Surrender Tree, Drum Dream Girl, All the Way to Havana, and Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings.

Engle has written verse novels, memoirs, picture books, and young adult books, and she served as the U.S. National Young People’s Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019. Her honors include a Newbery Honor for The Surrender Tree and the Pura Belpré Award for Enchanted Air.