Louise May will retire from Lee & Low Books at the beginning of January 2021. Her career in publishing spans nearly 50 years; she worked at Harcourt and Random House in the 1970s, followed by Mondo Publishing, and joined Lee & Low in 1999, where she became v-p and editorial director. She acquired and published more than 600 books at Lee & Low, focusing the list on diverse books that reflected a wide variety of stories, genres, and identities.
Authors and illustrators May has worked with include Monica Brown, Joseph Bruchac, R. Gregory Christie, Lulu Delacre, Nikki Grimes, the late Lee Bennett Hopkins, Ted and Betsy Lewin, Pat Mora, Frank Morrison, Javaka Steptoe, Don Tate, and many more. Throughout her career, May made a special effort to discover and support the work of new authors of color, and helped establish Lee & Low’s New Voices Award.
