Dr. Claudette S. McLinn is the founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL.org). She is a retired District Supervising Librarian in Library Services for the Los Angeles Unified School District with over 34 years of experience as a teacher, librarian, and administrator in elementary and secondary education. She was the owner of a children's bookstore for over 20 years. She was also an Adjunct Professor at California State University, Long Beach, where she taught graduate courses in children’s literature and young adult literature with a focus on multicultural literature. She has been active in the American Library Association (ALA), including serving on the Newbery Award, Coretta Scott King Award (as chair), Pura Belpré Award (as chair), and Caldecott Award (as chair) Committees. She was an inaugural member of the Kirkus Prize Committee for Young Reader's Literature; judge for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature; and judge for the Ezra Jack Keats Award Committee.
Dr. McLinn currently chaired the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Jury. She presently serves as Board member of USBBY and Board member of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. She has received numerous awards including the 2014 Dorothy C. McKenzie Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Field of Children's Literature presented by the Children's Literature Council of Southern California; 2020 ALA/Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) Distinguished Service Award; and 2023 ALA/Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.