Pura Belpré: Her Life and Legacy

Pura Belpré was the first Puerto Rican librarian to be hired by the New York Public Library system. A gifted storyteller and puppeteer, she celebrated the stories that had been handed down across generations of her family, and her story "Pérez and Martina," which she published in 1932, has become a classic of children's literature.

Pura Belpré also believed in welcoming everyone to the library, offering numerous programs and titles in Spanish to her neighbors at a time when such "community outreach" — especially to the Spanish-speaking community — was unheard of.

Learn more about Pura Belpré, her legacy of librarianship, and the children's book award in her honor from the following resources!

2020 Pura Belpré Winners

Author Award

• Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, written by Carlos Hernandez

Author Honor Awards

• Lety Out Loud, written by Angela Cervantes
• The Other Half of Happy, written by Rebecca Balcárcel
• Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, written by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar
• Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Illustrator Award

• Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln, illustrated by Rafael López, written by Margarita Engle

Illustrator Honor Awards

• Across the Bay, illustrated and written by Carlos Aponte
• My Papi Has a Motorcycle, illustrated by Zeke Peña, written by Isabel Quintero
• ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, illustrated and written by Raúl Gonzalez

The Pura Belpré Book Award

Celebrating Latino Cultural Experiences

The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.

A list of Previous winners of Pura Belpre Award is availabe on the ALSC website.

More diverse perspectives

For additional awards that celebrate diverse perspectives, see the award list in our multicultural literature section.

About Pura Belpré

The Storyteller's Candle / La velita de los cuentos

By: Lucía González
Illustrated by: Lulu Delacre

This is the story of librarian Pura Belpré, told through the eyes of two young children who are introduced to the library and its treasures just before Christmas. Lulu Delacre's lovely illustrations evoke New York City at the time of the Great Depression, as well as the close-knit and vibrant Puerto Rican community that was thriving in El Barrio during this time. Bilingual text.

The Stories I Read to the Children

In The Stories I Read to the Children, Lisa Sánchez González has collected, edited, and annotated over 40 of Belpré's stories and essays, most of which have never been published. Her introduction to the volume is the most an extensive study to date of Belpré’s life and writing.

This book documents, for the very first time, Pura Belpré’s contributions to North American, Caribbean and Latin American literary and library history as one  of the most important public intellectuals in the history of the Puerto Rican diaspora.

Interviews with Lucía González, Lulu Delacre, and Meg Medina

Learn more about Pura Belpré from the author and illustrator of The Storyteller's Candle — Lucía González and Lulu Delacre!

The full interviews with Lucía, Lulu, and Meg are available in our Meet the Authors section.