Joel Franz Rosell was born in Cruces, Cuba. Writer, teacher, journalist, illustrator and literary researcher, he has lived in Brazil, Denmark, Argentina and France, where he settled permanently in 2004. He has published around thirty books for children and young people in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Korea, Cuba, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Portugal. He has published more than 200 articles and essays, mostly on children's literature and Cuban culture, in newspapers and magazines in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Among other literary recognitions, he has obtained The White Ravens distinction from the International Youth Library (Germany, 1996 and 2007), the award of the City of Cherbourg (France, 2001) and the Avelino Hernández award for Young Adult Novels (Spain, 2016).