Alma Flor Ada

Alma Flor Ada (born January 3, 1938) is a Cuban-American author of children's books, poetry, and novels. A Professor Emerita at the University of San Francisco, she is recognized for her work promoting bilingual and multicultural education in the United States. She grew up in La Quinta Simoni, she grew up hearing traditional tales re-told by her grandmother, father, and uncle. At the age of 15, she traded a quinceañera party for summer school in the United States, thus beginning her life as a bilingual person.

After completing high school in Cuba, she earned a scholarship to attend Loretto Heights College. There she first encountered discrimination against Mexican-Americans, She was awarded a Fulbright Scholars Exchange Grant and appointed a Radcliffe Institute scholar at Harvard University and prepared her dissertation for publication, Pedro Salinas: El diálogo creador.

In 1970, she and her four children relocated permanently to the United States. In the United States, she was an associate professor at Emory University, a professor at Mercy College of Detroit, At the University of San Francisco, she directed 160 dissertations in the field of International Multicultural Education. She was a visiting professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, St. Thomas University in Houston, The University of Guam, and an author in residence at the University of Texas, El Paso and UC Davis. A renowned speaker where she was awarded the Mexican Government's Ohtli award for her lifetime contributions to the advancement of Mexican communities abroad through numerous projects such as the Pajaro Valley Literacy Project. In 2008, the California Association of Bilingual Educators (CABE) established "The Alma Flor Ada Teachership Award" given annually in her honor.

Alma Flor Ada is a major contributor to the advancement of critical pedagogy focused on personal realization and social justice, centered around incorporating experience based knowledge of parents and students into the classroom through authentic writing. She has published extensive educational materials, including Authors in the Classroom: A Transformation Education Process (co-authored with Isabel Campoy) and A Magical Encounter: Latino Children's Literature in the Classroom. She has authored reading programs by Harcourt School Publishers, Macmillan-McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scott Forseman, Santillana, and Frog Street. Traditional Folktales For example, the picture book I Love Saturdays, y dominos, the chapter book My Name is María Isabel in the series The Author in You where the authors explain the inspiration and meaning behind their books.

Alma Flor Ada has also translated extensively from English into Spanish for authors such as Lucille Clifton, Evaline Ness, Judy Blume, Judith Viorst, Ruth Heller, Nancy Luenn, Audrey Wood, Jane Yolen, Cynthia Rylant. In collaboration with Isabel Campoy, Alma Flor has also translated works of authors such as Lois Ehlert, Ellen Stoll Walsh, Mem Fox, and Gerald McDermott. Christopher Award 1992 – The Gold Coin; Notable Book (National Council for Social Studies/Children's Book Council) – The Gold Coin; Parent's Choice Honor Gold Medal, Parenting Magazine 1998 – The Lizard and the Sun; Pura Belpre, American Library Association 2000 – Under the Royal Palms; Ohtli Award 2014.