Anika Aldamuy Denise
Description
About Anika Aldamuy Denise
Anika Aldamuy Denise is an acclaimed author whose picture books celebrate the lives and achievements of trailblazing Latinas, along with the richness of multicultural families and communities. Her 2019 book Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré received the Pura Belpré Author Honor Award, the NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Children's Nonfiction, and the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for Early Readers. In 2020, A Girl Named Rosita: The Story of Rita Moreno: Actor, Singer, Dancer, Trailblazer! was praised by School Library Journal as “exuberant” and “inspirational” in a starred review. Her latest biography, Phenomenal AOC: The Roots and Rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was published this September to critical acclaim, earning a starred review from Booklist and being described by Kirkus as “pure moxie.” Beyond writing, Anika is a 2023 mentor for We Need Diverse Books and a madrina for the Las Musas Latinx kidlit collective. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, bestselling author-illustrator Christopher Denise, in a small coastal cottage shared with many books, one lazy cat, and three not-quite-grown children.