Biography of pam munoz ryan

Pam Muñoz Ryan was born in Bakersfield, California, in 1951. With half of her family from Mexico and the other half from Oklahoma, Muñoz Ryan jokes that she grew up eating enchiladas one weekend and fried chicken the next. She was the oldest of 23 grandchildren on her mother’s side.

Pam Muñoz Ryan studied child development at San Diego State University before working as a bilingual Head Start teacher, full-time mom, and early childhood schema administrator. After earning a graduate grad in education, Muñoz Ryan began her new career as a writer. At first, she wrote books about child development for adults. Soon though, she started writing books for children. After publishing a number of picture books, Muñoz Ryan discovered that she was a talented novelist as well. Esperanza Rising, perhaps her most well known novel, won the Pura Belpre Medal in 2000.

Today Pam Muñoz Ryan writes full time and lives with her husband just north of San Diego.

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Pam Muñoz Ryan

American writer (born 1951)

Pam Muñoz Ryan (born December 25, 1951) is an American writer for children and young adults, particularly in the multicultural genre.

Biography

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Muñoz Ryan was born in Bakersfield, California.^[1] She is half Mexican with Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman cultural influences.^[2]

Muñoz Ryan has written over forty books for young people, including picture books, early readers, middle grade, and young adult novels. She has been the author recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for multicultural literature, and the Ludington Award for her body of work. She is also the 2018 U.S. nominee for the International Hans Christian Andersen Award.^[3] Her novel Esperanza Rising^[4] was commissioned as a play by the Minneapolis Children's Theatre and has been performed in venues around the US, including the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and the Cutler Maj