Diaz, David (1960-…), is an American illustrator best known for his picture books for children. Diaz won the Caldecott Medal in 1995 for his illustrations for Smoky Night (1994) by the children’s author Eve Bunting. The Caldecott Medal is an annual award for the best picture book by an American.
Smoky Night deals with rioting that took place in parts of Los Angeles in 1992 as seen through the eyes of a young boy. Diaz illustrated the book with boldly colored and thickly textured acrylic paintings to express the story’s drama and intensity. He created backgrounds for the paintings using a collage technique, in which the artist glues bits of paper and other materials to the painting. For the collages in Smoky Night, Diaz used pieces of torn fabric, photographs, and even matches and shards of broken glass.
Diaz’s distinctive visual style can also be seen in Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman (1996) by the children’s author Kathleen Krull. For this book, Diaz created richly colored acrylic and water-color paintings that resemble woodcarvings to recount the biography of the famous African American track star.
Diaz illustrated other books that explore social problems. The Inner City Mother Goose (1996) by the children’s author Eve Merriam is a powerful portrait of the anger, tension, drugs, poverty, corruption, and neglect the author sees in modern inner-city life. Just One Flick of the Finger (1996), by the children’s author Marybeth Lorbiecki, is a story about urban teenage violence.
Diaz has illustrated books by a number of other authors. They include The Disappearing Alphabet (1998) by the poet Richard Wilbur, The Little Scarecrow Boy (1998) by the children’s author Margaret Wise Brown, Shadow Story (1999) by the children’s author Nancy Willard, Roadrunner’s Dance (2000) by the Mexican American author Rudolfo Anaya , and The Wanderer (2000) and The Castle Corona (2007) by the children’s author Sharon Creech.
Diaz, who is partly of Puerto Rican descent, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Oct. 2, 1960, and grew up there. After attending Fort Lauderdale Art Institute, he moved to San Diego in 1979. In California, Diaz became a successful designer, graphic artist, and newspaper illustrator. His first children’s book was Neighborhood Odes (1992) by the Mexican American poet Gary Soto.
Diaz received the 2013 Pura Belpré Award for his illustrations for Martin de Porres: The Rose of the Desert (2012). The Pura Belpré Award is given annually to a Latino or Latina author and to a Latino or Latina illustrator. The winning writers and illustrators are those, in the opinion of the judges, “whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”
Diaz was a board member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. He resigned from the board in December 2017, after an author accused him of sexual harassment over an incident that occurred in 2012. Diaz apologized to the author and she accepted his apology.
