About Esmeralda Mora

 Esmeralda Mora is a Mexican-American international bestselling author featured in the Entre Culturas 2023 textbook and the 2024 Illinois Teacher of the Year. As a leading advocate for language learning, she is passionate about making language learning accessible and engaging. Her active leadership roles and volunteer work demonstrate her dedication to education and community involvement. Esmeralda is the Founding Director of the Language Learner Literature Advisory Board, a community of scholars auditing language learning literature through a lens of inclusive excellence, and has been tapped by the state of Illinois to serve as a judge for the Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She has been an invited speaker to international audiences, presenting at conferences such as ACTFL and Harvard Latinas, and has been featured on PBS.  Esmeralda holds a B.A. in International Studies from Kenyon College, an M.A. in Latin American Literature from Northeastern Illinois University, and a Doctorate in Education from National Louis University in Chicago. She is currently working on her next young adult novel for Spanish language classes.