Simmons College Awards First Lee & Low, Friends Scholarship
Simmons College has partnered with independent children’s publisher Lee & Low Books to award the first Lee & Low and Friends Scholarship to Luisiana Duarte Armendáriz to enroll in the school’s children’s literature graduate program.
The Lee & Low and Friends Scholarship is designed to provide opportunities for people of color to attend the Boston college’s prestigious Center for the Study of Children’s Literature program.
Armendáriz is an illustrator and author who writes middle grade adventure novels and creates whimsical picture books. She will use the scholarship to pursue a dual masters degree in Literature and Writing for children from Simmons College’s Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. Armendáriz, who is from Mexico, is also committed to supporting literacy dissemination efforts.
It was Lee & Low Books that produced the Lee & Low Diversity Baseline Survey, a report that found that nearly 80% of the staff at book publishing houses and book reviewers, identify as white. The survey also found that about 10% of the books published over the last few decades have included characters of color, although the U.S. population is more than 40% nonwhite.
The $100,000 scholarship fund was created from donations from Lee & Low and Simmons alumni. Armendáriz will receive a stipend from the fund.
Armendáriz said “I think that the greatest thing about scholarships like the Lee & Low and Friends scholarship is that they give a voice to different stories that otherwise would not have the opportunity to heard.”
