María del Pilar López Ávila (Cartagena, Spain 1969) is an award-winning writer of children’s stories. Her passion for children's literature began when she was very young, and at the age of nine, she was already writing children's stories. In December 2010, she was awarded the third position in the Joaquín Sama Awards for Educational Innovation in the category “A More Civic and Caring Cchool,” for the project entitled, “Use of Waste Materials.” She has published Ayobami and the Names of Animals (2017), winner of the International Latino Book Awards in 2018, and The Kite of Dreams (2019) with Cuento de Luz. Ávila is married and the mother of 3 children. She has a Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine, currently working as a Biology and Geology teacher at a high school in Cáceres. She is also the director of the Teatro Paraíso.
