Lawrence Schimel

Lawrence Schimel (New York, 1971) is 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. His picture books have won a Crystal Kite Award from SCBWI (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. His writings have been translated into over sixty languages, including Welsh, Korean, Filipino, Maltese, Urdu, Farsi, Kurdish, and Basque.

In addition to his own writing, he is a prolific literary translator, primarily into English and into Spanish, who has published over 200 books. His translations into English have won a Batchelder Honor from the American Library Association and a PEN Translates Award from English PEN (three times), among other honors.

He is the former Editorial Director of the Spanish-lanhguage imprint of children's publisher NordSüd Verlag, and is the founder and publisher of poetry press A Midsummer Night's Press. He served 2 terms as co-chair of the Publishing Triangle, the organization of LGBTQ+ publishing professionals in the USA, and also founded the Spain chapter of the Society of Children's Books Writers & Illustrators and served as Regional Advisor during five years.