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Leonarda Carranza received her PhD in Social Justice Education in 2016. In her work she examined the long-term effects of racism and colonialism on student learning and belonging. Her questions centered around what racism, and systemic violence teaches us about our place in the world.

Since graduating, Carranza has pivoted towards writing professionally. Her published essays build on the prevailing themes in her doctoral research. Her creative nonfiction and essays have been published in Room Magazine, The New Quarterly, The Humber Literary Review, The Globe and Mail and Briarpatch Magazine. She is the winner of Briarpatch Magazine’s Writing in the Margins contest and Room Magazine’s short forms contest. Carranza also co-edited the anthology,

In 2022, she published her debut picture book, Abuelita and Me with Annick Press. The story centers on the experience of a little girl and her grandmother as they navigate racism in their neighbourhood. Abuelita and Me was nominated for the Blue Spruce Award and won an International Latino Book Award.

Since then, she has published two more picture books. One that explores the ways we hold and express anger and the importance of repair, Fighting Words (Annick, 2024); and The Friendship Blanket (Scholastic »»ÆÞ¾ãÀÖ²¿, 2025) where she writes about the loneliness of migration, the experience of racism and the value of friendship.

Select writings:

Dr. Leonarda Carranza in the news:

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Reflections written by Leonarda Carranza in November 2025.