The daughter of a US Foreign Service family, Nelda LaTeef spent her first eighteen years attending schools in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Italy, Niger, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Senegal. Her children's picture books, THE TALKING BAOBAB TREE (2020) and ANIMAL VILLAGE (2018) were named Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the Year. LaTeef's books have received numerous honors and awards including Storytelling World Awards, Children's Africana Book Awards, Literary Classics Gold and Silver Awards, Next Generation Indie Book Finalist, and starred Kirkus Reviews. Her books have been translated into numerous languages including Italian, French, Spanish, Korean and Gaelic. Her illustrations were showcased at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and McLean Project for the Arts. She is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University and is the author of Working Women for the 21st Century: Fifty Women Reveal Their Pathways to Success, selected by the New York Public Library as recommended reading for young adults. She lives with her family in Virginia. www.neldalateef.com