Ibi Zoboi

Last updated
Ibi Zoboi
Ibi Zoboi at the 2018 Americas Awards.jpg
Ibi Zoboi receives a 2018 Americas Award from the Library of Congress
Born Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Education Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA)
GenreYoung Adult fiction
Years active2005-now
Notable worksAmerican Street
SpouseJoseph Zoboi
Children3
Website
ibizoboi.net

Ibi Aanu Zoboi is a Haitian-American author of young adult fiction. She is best known for her young adult novel American Street, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young Adult's Literature in 2017. [1]

Contents

Early life

Born in Haiti as Pascale Philantrope, [2] Zoboi immigrated from Port-au-Prince with her mother at age four and grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in the 1980s. [3] The move was hard on Zoboi, who found Brooklyn to be lonely, as her family was in Haiti and her mother worked. She cites the move from Haiti to New York as one that defined her. Four years later, Zoboi returned to Haiti for a visit with her mother. When they tried to return to the United States, Zoboi was not allowed to return. Zoboi stayed in Haiti with relatives for three months while her mother worked to get her back. After her return, her teachers placed her in an English as a Second Language course when she was in the fifth grade, wrongly assuming that Zoboi couldn't speak English. [4] This caused her to feel "invisible". [5] She turned to poetry and writing as a way for her to be seen.

Before becoming an author, Zoboi worked at a newspaper and in a bookstore. Interested in writing, she took classes in creative writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and graduated with her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. [6]

Zoboi took her husband's surname at marriage and changed her first name to Ibi, a Yoruba word for "rebirth", reflecting her birth name, Pascale, which is related to Easter. [7]

Career

Zoboi began her writing career as an investigative reporter and worked among others with Octavia Butler. Zoboi is a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop [8] as well as a winner of the 2011 Gulliver Travel Grant. [9] In 2018, Zoboi received the Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature from the Library of Congress. [10] While working on her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, she was chosen as a finalist for the New Visions Award before publishing her debut novel. [11] Through Kickstarter, Zoboi was able to fund the Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project, a creative writing workshop in Port-au-Prince. [12] According to Zoboi, one of the reasons she started this workshop was to give Haitian girls a voice and ways to see themselves in literature. [13] Named for the Taino queen Anacaona, the project helped Haitian and Caribbean girls from 2009 to 2014. [14]

Selected works

Prior to publishing her first novel, Zoboi wrote short stories including one story titled The Farming of Gods which was published in 2012 and features a setting of a post apocalyptic Haiti following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. The Farming of Gods is an example of Afrofuturism and combines aspects of traditional Haitian belief systems with futuristic and dystopian concepts. [15]

Her debut novel American Street, about a Haitian teen whose mother gets detained when they first immigrate to America, explores magical realism, immigration, and voodou culture, all based on the author's on experiences as a Haitian-American immigrant. [16] It was published by Balzer + Bray in 2017. [17] American Street was chosen as a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2017 [1] and it was named as a 2018 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction. [18] The novel is set in Detroit, Michigan because she wanted the story to be told according to her experiences in Bushwick in the 1980s, a neighborhood changed since her childhood. [1]

Zoboi edited the young adult anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, published in 2019 by Balzer + Bray. [19] Black Enough received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly , [20] Kirkus Reviews , and Booklist . [21] It appeared on the 2020 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction. [22]

Zoboi's 2018 novel Pride is a re-telling of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice , set in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. [23]

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, Zoboi's 2019 middle-grade novel, is about Ebony-Grace, a girl who is sent from Alabama to help her grandfather in Harlem in the 1980s and is her first middle grade book. [24] As a young black girl who enjoys the science-fiction worlds of Star Wars and Star Trek, Ebony-Grace is seen as an "ice cream sandwich" by her peers; brown on the outside, but white on the inside. [25]

Her 2021 picture book, The People Remember, published by Balzer + Bray and illustrated by Loveis Wise, appeared on the 2022 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Book of the Year List with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction. [26]

Her 2023 young adult novel, Nigeria Jones, published by Balzer + Bray, won the 2024 Coretta Scott King Author Award. [27]

Bibliog

Young adult

Middle grade

Picture books

Short stories and essays

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwidge Danticat</span> Haitian-American writer (born 1969)

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. As of the fall of 2023, she will be the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University.

Coe Booth is an American fiction writer. Her first novel, Tyrell, was released in 2006. It is written for young adolescents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Zarr</span> American writer

Sara Zarr is an American writer. She was raised in San Francisco, and now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband. Her first novel, Story of a Girl, was a 2007 National Book Award finalist. She has subsequently had nine novels published.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Wells (author)</span> American horror writer

Daniel Andrew Wells is an American horror and science fiction author. Wells's first published novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer, was adapted into a movie in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becky Albertalli</span> American author (born 1982)

Rebecca Albertalli is an American author of young adult fiction and former psychologist. She is known for her 2015 debut novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which was adapted into the 2018 film Love, Simon and inspired the spin-off television series Love, Victor. Albertalli has subsequently published seven additional novel-length works of young adult fiction, along with 2020's novella Love, Creekwood, from which Albertalli has donated all proceeds to The Trevor Project.

Jay Coles is an American author of young adult fiction and composer of concert band music and member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. His debut piece, Orchesis: The Legends of Thailand, premiered in Wakayama-shi, Japan in December 2011. In addition to composing, Jay has written several novels over the years, including the Black Lives Matter-inspired stand-alone, Tyler Johnson Was Here, which was published March 20, 2018 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers.

<i>The Hate U Give</i> 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city. Starr becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil. She speaks up about the shooting in increasingly public ways, and social tensions culminate in a riot after a grand jury decides not to indict the police officer for the shooting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Acevedo</span> American poet and author

Elizabeth Acevedo is an American poet and author. In September 2022, the Poetry Foundation named her the year's Young People's Poet Laureate.

Rebecca Podos is an American author of young adult fiction and a literary agent, best known for her Lambda Literary Award-winning novel Like Water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamar Giles</span> American author

Lamar Giles is an American author of young adult novels and short stories. He best known for his award-winning novels with his most popular being Fake ID, SPIN, Not So Pure and Simple, and The Legendary Alston Boys middle grade fantasy series. He is also one of the founding members of the American non-profit We Need Diverse Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Watson (author)</span> American author of childrens books (born 1978)

Renée Watson is an American teaching artist and author of children's books, best known for her award-winning and New York Times bestselling young adult novel Piecing Me Together, for which she received the John Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Josette Frank Award for fiction. Watson founded the nonprofit I, Too, Arts Collective to provide creative arts programs to the Harlem community. She is a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.

Brandy Colbert is an American author of young adult fiction and nonfiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kacen Callender</span> Saint Thomian author (born 1989)

Kacen Callender is a Saint Thomian author of children's fiction and fantasy, best known for their Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award—winning middle grade debut Hurricane Child (2018). Their fantasy novel, Queen of the Conquered, is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award, and King and the Dragonflies won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kekla Magoon</span> American author (born 1980)

Kekla Magoon is an American author, best known for her NAACP Image Award-nominated young adult novel The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, The Season of Styx Malone, and X. In 2021, she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her body of work. Her works also include middle grade novels, short stories, and historical, socio-political, and economy-related non-fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Baptiste</span> Childrens horror author from the Caribbean

Tracey Baptiste is a children's horror author from the Caribbean who uses folk stories in her novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justina Ireland</span> American science-fiction writer

Justina Ireland is an American science fiction and fantasy author of young adult fiction and former editor-in-chief of the FIYAH Literary Magazine. She received the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Non-Professional Work. Her New York Times bestselling novel Dread Nation won the 2019 Locus Award, and was nominated for the Andre Norton, Bram Stoker, and Lodestar Awards.

<i>Pet</i> (novel) 2019 young adult novel by Akwaeke Emezi

Pet is a 2019 young adult fantasy/speculative fiction novel by Nigerian non-binary author Akwaeke Emezi. It was followed by a prequel Bitter, released in 2022.

<i>Punching the Air</i> 2020 novel by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air is a young adult novel-in-verse by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam, published September 1, 2020 by Balzer + Bray.

Roseanne A. Brown is a Ghanaian American writer of fantasy, science fiction and young adult fiction. She is best known for her debut novel A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, which became a New York Times best seller, and its sequel, A Psalm of Storms and Silence.

<i>Black Enough</i> 2019 young adult anthology

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America is a 2019 young adult anthology edited by Ibi Zoboi. The fictional stories are all written by Black authors and "explor[e] black interconnectedness, traditions, and identity in terms of how they apply to black teens". Common themes include Black identity, sexual awakening, and teenage worries.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "American Street - National Book Foundation". National Book Foundation. 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2018. Since the dangerous, desolate Bushwick neighborhood she knew as a child has been revitalized, Zoboi wanted to place her characters in a modern-day neighborhood that resembles the one she grew up in.
  2. ↑ "American Street | Interview by Ibi Zoboi". BookPage. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. ↑ "Children's Book Review: American Street by Ibi Zoboi. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray". Publishers Weekly. February 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  4. ↑ "Author Interview - Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street". 21 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "American Street | Interview by Ibi Zoboi". Book Page. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "American Street | Interview by Ibi Zoboi". Book Page. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  7. ↑ "American Street | Interview by Ibi Zoboi". Book Page. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Clarion West Alumni List". Clarion West. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  9. ↑ "Gulliver Travel Grant 2011 Results – Speculative Literature Foundation".
  10. ↑ "2018 Americas Awards". Library of Congress .
  11. ↑ "Spring 2017 Flying Starts: Ibi Zoboi". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project in Haiti".
  13. ↑ Baker, Jennifer (28 June 2017). "Ibi Zoboi On Literacy and Her Work with Haitian American Teens". School Library Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "Ibi Zoboi on Literacy and Her Work with Haitian American Teens".
  15. ↑ "v18 – GENDERED ECOLOGIES AND BLACK FEMINIST | Wagadu". sites.cortland.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-12-08. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  16. ↑ "Book Review: American Street by Ibi Zoboi — @TLT16 Teen Librarian Toolbox". www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  17. ↑ "Haitian teen seeks the dream on 'American Street'". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  18. ↑ "Best Children's Books of the Year Archive". Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  19. ↑ "Rights Report: Week of January 15, 2018". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  20. ↑ "Children's Book Review: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America by Edited by Ibi Zoboi. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-269872-8". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  21. ↑ Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, edited by Ibi Zoboi | Booklist Online . Retrieved 2018-11-11– via www.booklistonline.com.
  22. ↑ "Best Children's Books of the Year Archive". Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  23. ↑ Katie Ward Beim-Esche (2018-10-22). "'Pride' thrusts Jane Austen into 21-century Bushwick". Christian Science Monitor . Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2019-06-06. 'Pride' is ripe for the movie-fying, and a triumphant follow-up to Zoboi's smash debut, 'American Street.'
  24. ↑ "Publishers Weekly: My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  25. ↑ "Q&A with Ibi Zoboi: My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich". 20 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "Best Children's Books of the Year Archive". Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  27. ↑ "2024 Winners and Honors | Coretta Scott King Roundtable". www.ala.org. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.