I am a full-time author, writing in both Spanish and English, based in Madrid, Spain, who has published over 130 books in a wide range of genres, including fiction, poetry, graphic novels, anthologies, and children’s books. My picture books have won a Crystal Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (twice), a White Raven from the International Youth Library in Munich, and have been chosen by IBBY for Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities (three times), among other honors. Matt Mackie’s translation of my children’s book Guid Mornin! Guid Nicht! illustrated by Elina Braslina (Tippermuir) won the 2023 Scots Bairns Book o the Year Award. I’ve won the Lambda Literary Award twice, for the anthologies PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality (with Carol Queen; Cleis Press) and First Person Queer (with Richard Labonté; Arsenal Pulp Press), and have also been a finalist for the award 14 other times.

My writings have been translated into over sixty languages, including Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Icelandic, Maltese, Farsi, Kurdish, Basque, Luxembourgish, Arabic, Changana, Romansch, and Xhosa.

In addition to my own writing, I am literary translator, primarily into English and into Spanish, who has published over 160 books. My translations into English have won a Batchelder Honor from the American Library Association, a PEN Translates Award from English PEN (three times), and a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship (with Layla Benitez-James), among other honors.

My translation of Karmelo C. Iribarren’s Poems the Wind Blew In illustrated by Riya Chowdhury (The Emma Press) was Highly Commended in the 2020 CLiPPA and my translation of Julio Serrano Echeverría’s Balam & Lluvia’s House illustrated by Yolanda Mosquera (The Emma Press) was shortlisted for the 2024 CLiPPA and the Week Junior 2024 Book of the Year.

I am also the publisher of poetry press A Midsummer Night’s Press (not currently open to submissions) and the former Editorial Director of Spanish language imprint Ediciones NorteSur and Senior Acquiring Editor in English at picture book publisher NorthSouth Books. I have served as the co-chair for two terms of the Publishing Triangle (the US organization for LGBTQ+ people working in publishing), founded and was Regional Advisor during 5 years of the Spain chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and was one of the co-founders of World Kid Lit Month.

I regularly give talks and workshops about writing, translating, and the  publishing industry at festivals, conferences, and universities across the globe.