About Me

Melissa H. Mwai (she/her) is a children’s author and illustrator. A PUERTO RICAN CHILDHOOD (DK, ’24) is out now. She’s also published STACEY ABRAMS (Nat Geo Kids, ’22) and contributed as an author-illustrator to GNOMES AND UNGNOMES: POEMS OF HIDDEN CREATURES (Writers’ Loft Press, ’23).

She uses the initial “H” in her name to honor her family name, Hernández, representing her Afro-Puerto Rican culture.

Melissa is a former middle school English teacher and worked in Education Assessment. She has a M.S. in Library Science, a B.A. in English/Creative Writing, and teaches elementary students in Sunday School.

She is represented by Jacqui Lipton at The Tobias Literary Agency.

A New York native, she now lives in Maryland with her spouse, two kids, and bunny.