Maya Christina Gonzalez

Maya Christina Gonzalez (born 1964) is a Chicana artist, illustrator, educator and publisher. She lives and works in San Francisco. Gonzalez is a co-founder of the publishing house Reflection Press. She also co-created an online learning environment called School of the Free Mind. Gonzalez has a unique, "high queer femme" sense of personal style that includes piercings and multiple tattoos. Gonzalez's art and work are focused on helping others build a sense of self and connection to others and the environment, despite differences between individuals. Her illustrations and books have helped increase "acceptance of, and love for, children's books by and about Latinos." Her art is featured on the cover of a textbook, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education, Volume II.

Biography González was born in Lancaster, California into a biracial home: her mother was German and her father Mexican. After recovering, she found gifts waiting for her, including a pad of paper and colored pencils. This early gift inspired her to start drawing and introduced her to how art can help heal. For several years, Gonzalez was "deeply catholic" and used the family Bible and Michelangelo as a drawing source and inspiration. Gonzalez didn't intend to become an artist for a living and has little formal art training. Gonzalez has become estranged from her parents who disowned her She says that "the freaks and geeks need to tell their stories and kids need to hear them and relate to them," and that major, established publishing houses won't publish those kinds of books. Gonzalez's art also shows a connection of the individual to the environment. and reinterprets that artist's life through use of her image and artistic legacy. Gonzalez uses many different techniques to create her art, including "acrylics, collage, cut paper, photography, pastels and charcoal." Other sources of inspiration include pop culture and her own imagination. She has illustrated over twenty books and written some on her own. Gonzalez considers it very important as a child to see oneself depicted in books. Gonzalez wants children to know that they belong by using her illustrations to create inclusive books. She wants to illustrate difficult situations and feelings for children, so that they feel less "alone." Her illustrations for children include individuals who are not seen as often in books, such as gay characters and overweight characters. Gonzalez hid her first secret image in her illustrations for Laughing Tomatoes. Her first written and illustrated children's book was My Colors, My World. I Know the River Loves Me/Yo sé que el río me ama (2009), depicts a Chicana girl visiting a river. I Know the River Loves Me is about "belonging to the world" and having a "relationship with nature." Gonzalez feels that such relationships with the environment are "a very Chicano experience." It is also significant in not using any gendered pronouns in the story. Her writing for Call Me Tree was also praised by Kirkus Reviews, saying that Gonzalez "excels at using few words to evoke grand imagery."

González also creates activity books, many of which go along with the curriculum of the School of the Free Mind. It was also the first book for children to "explore transgender topics" and intersex topics.