Twice a Quinceañera

Yamile (pronounced sha-MEE-lay) Saied Méndez is an Argentinian-American Pura Belpré gold medal-winning author of picture books, middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction. An inaugural Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient, she's a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and Voices of Our Nations (VONA). Her young adult novel, Furia, was a Reese Witherspoon X Hello Sunshine YA Pick and she's a founding member of Las Musas, a collective of women and nonbinary Latinx creators. Born and raised in Rosario, Argentina—to a family with roots from all over the world—she now lives in Utah with her Puerto Rican husband, five multicultural kids, two bilingual dogs, and one majestic cat. Visit her online at YamileSMendez.com.