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| photo: Petite Shards Productions | |
Meg Medina, the award-winning Cuban American author who writes picture books, middle grade and YA fiction, was named 2019 Newbery Medal winner for Merci Suárez Changes Gears (Candlewick), announced earlier this week at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, Wash.
Congratulations! You are clearly no stranger to awards: Burn Baby Burn was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award and shortlisted for both the Kirkus Prize and the Los Angeles Book Prize; you received the Pura Belpré Author Award for 2014's Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass and a Pura Belpré honor for 2016's Mango, Abuela, and Me; and now you have the Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears! Is this your first work for middle-graders?
Actually, my very first novel, published by Holt, was also a middle grade novel, but it is no longer in print. For a long while after that, I published at each end of the spectrum: picture books, which for me feel poetic and soothing, and young adult novels, which thrust me right into imbalance and restlessness--and even a little bit of rage. When I began writing Merci, I had to modulate and find that very particular voice of someone who is 11. For me, it's a voice still rooted in the fun and wonder of childhood, but also able to start noticing the underbelly of life. I was worried that I couldn't do it, so it's especially surprising and gratifying to get the award for Merci.
Merci was influenced, in part, by your experience taking care of elderly and ailing parents. Did that make Merci feel more personal than some of your other works? If so, does that add extra weight to receiving such an immense award for this book?
All of my works are deeply personal, although they are not necessarily biographical. It's true that I had the experience of living with my mother during the last year of her life and also of living with both my mother-in-law and my tía Isa when they were unable to live alone. Those experiences happened while my own children were still at home. I can say that it brought out the best and worst in all of us, but I don't think we would have done anything differently.
I think what gives this award a feeling of extra weight for me is that it is a celebration of families, particularly Latino families at a time in our history when we hear many disparaging characterizations.
Do the different awards feel different? You've had such an incredible career and you continue to make such a big impact in children's literature, does it feel different to get recognized for different works?
Every award is a miracle and a life-changing event for different reasons. The Ezra Jack Keats turned people's eyes toward my work very early in my career. The Pura Belpré was so meaningful because it felt like an affirmation of belonging to the rich history of Latino literature in this country. The Newbery, though, is a statement about universality and connection with readers across all lines.
Your blog says 2018 was a year of change. What was that year of change like? Does this feel like an appropriate end to your very busy, very productive year?
My 2018 was filled with new experiences. I published a middle grade novel. I began teaching at Hamline University. I had to make difficult changes in how to care for my aunt. But to be honest, I'm thinking about this more as a beginning than an end--it's January, after all. My editor, Kate Fletcher, made me promise to take a few days to really let this sink in and enjoy the feeling. After, I'll turn to the questions in my heart. How do I make this medal matter beyond the distinction it offers me personally? How can I use it to help create new readers? How do I work now to build bridges and open paths for writers coming behind me with their own stories to tell?
Thank you so much for speaking with us! Is there anything else you'd like to tell Shelf readers?
Only that I truly appreciate all the good wishes that have flooded in. That, and the fact that we all have some wonderful books to pick up from the long list of distinguished ALA winners this year. Let's dig in!
Congratulations again!