Meet the author

Matt de la Pena.

Writer · United States · b. 1973

Matt de la Peña: Newbery-winning American author of Last Stop on Market Street and Love (with Christian Robinson on art) — warm, urban-realist, culturally specific picture books for ages 3–8.

Matt de la Peña is an American author born in 1973, best known to children's-book readers as the writer of Last Stop on Market Street (2015), illustrated by Christian Robinson, winner of the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Honor, a quietly transformative picture book about a boy and his grandmother riding the bus through their neighbourhood. He has also written Carmela Full of Wishes, Love, Milo Imagines the World and a number of other picture books and YA novels. De la Peña's voice is warm, urban-realist, emotionally generous and culturally specific. A core contemporary American picture-book author for ages 3–8, especially important to inclusive-shelf curation.