Meg Medina: a former teacher, a Milk Dud aficionado, an award-winning writer, a talker of books. The new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is an initiative of the Library of Congress in partnership with Every Child a Reader. It is also a title that comes with prestige and a platform to spread a message of love for books and reading. Each Ambassador adds their own flavor to this goal, and Meg Medina, the eighth Ambassador, is planning a unique community-oriented approach to her upcoming 2-year term, encapsulated by her platform “Cuéntame: Let’s Talk Books.” A few days before her Inauguration as the next Ambassador (today, January 24, 2023!), we chatted about what brought her to this position, what drives her passion as a literacy advocate, and what she sees on the horizon. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Thank you to Literary Initiatives intern Natalie Miller for helping transcribe the interview.
Cross-posted from Minerva’s Kaleidoscope: Resources for Kids and Families
Sasha Dowdy: I’d love to help our readers get to know you. Can you tell us some fun facts that everyone should know?
Meg Medina: Well, everyone should know that I write for kids of all ages. I think that I write from the very youngest all the way to teenagers and occasionally for adults. So for me, the thing is story, I pick the age group and the format that matches the story that’s in my heart that I want to tell at that time.
I think folks should know that I came to writing through stories in my family. I had very talkative Cuban aunts and grandmothers and mother, and they did a lot of talking and storytelling in the house. And that just developed my ear for story and for drama and for dramatic pause and for heated