Literary Birthday – 11 June – Meg Medina

Happy Birthday, Meg Medina, born on 11 June 1963.

Meg Medina Quotes

1. Almost everything I write is based in some way on what I’ve experienced or seen in my life. But I write 100% fiction, which means that no character or event in any of my books is directly from life. I mix memories of people together, change their gender or their species or their circumstances. Then I put them in harm’s way and watch them solve the problem. What’s important is that I tell the truth about the feelings of the experience. (FAQs)
2. I think the most important thing is to read widely and voraciously, beyond what your school assigns you. (For heaven’s sake, find the books that make you lose yourself in the pages.) (FAQs)
3. I also think you should write as often as you can, even if it’s privately in a journal. The only way to learn to be a better writer is by writing many, many terrible drafts and having to figure out how to make what’s in your head and heart sound right on the page. (FAQs)
4. The best things are that I live in the world of my imagination and that I get to honour childhood and youth in a really important and lasting way. The worst thing is that you need a very thick shell to keep your self-confidence. Writers succeed and fail very publicly, so you have to be prepared for people who might not like your book at all and who will tell you so in great detail. (FAQs)
5. You never forget the books you loved as a kid. You never forget the poems you memorised, the first book you read until the cover fell off, the book you read hidden from your mother. What an honour to hold hands with a child’s imagination in this way. (A-Z Quotes)
6. When I write now, I pretend I’m holding hands with the old me. I try to make sense of all those questions for her. (A-Z Quotes)

Meg Medina is an American children’s book author of Cuban descent. Her books celebrate Latino culture and the lives of young people. Medina’s work examines how cultures intersect through the eyes of young people. She brings audiences stories that speak to both what is unique in Latino culture and qualities that are universal. She served as the 2023–2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author who writes picture books, as well as middle-grade and young adult fiction. Medina is the recipient of the 2019 John Newbery Medal for her middle-grade novel, Merci Suárez Changes Gears. Her latest novel is Graciela in the Abyss. Follow her on Instagram.

Source for photograph: Author’s Press Kit

by Amanda Patterson
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