Lydia Gil 

Lydia was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, to Cuban parents.  She is the author of the bilingual children's picture book, Mimi's Parranda/La Parranda de Mimi (2007) and the award-winning middle-grade novel Letters from Heaven/Cartas del Cielo (2014).  She teaches Spanish and Latin American Literature at the University of Denver.  She is working on a historical novel set in the 1950's in Cuba.