Jewell Parker Rhodes is an American bestselling novelist and educator.
Christopher Paul Curtis is an American children's book author. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, was published in 1995 and brought him immediate national recognition, receiving the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award and the Newbery Honor Book Award in addition to numerous other awards. In 2000, he became the first person to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award—prizes received for his second novel Bud, Not Buddy—and the first African-American man to win the Newbery Medal. His novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 was made into a television film in 2013.
Sharon G. Flake is an American writer of children and young adult literature. She has lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her daughter for many years. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in English.
The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African American experience. Awards are given both to authors and to illustrators.
The First Part Last is a young adult novel by Angela Johnson that deals with the subject of teen pregnancy. It's the second book in the Heaven Trilogy. Johnson writes the story in first person narration from the perspective of Bobby, the 16-year-old father, setting it apart from most books on the subject. The book is divided into four parts and its chapters alternate between "then" and "now."
Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for Miracle's Boys, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. After serving as the Young People's Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, she was named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, by the Library of Congress, for 2018 to 2019. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2020.
Sharon Mills Draper is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience. She is known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series, Copper Sun,Double Dutch, Out of My Mind and Romiette and Julio.
Nikki Grimes is an American author of books written for children and young adults, as well as a poet and journalist.
Andrea Davis Pinkney is the author of numerous books for children and young adults, including picture books, novels, works of historical fiction and nonfiction who writes about African-American culture. In addition to her work as an author, Pinkney has had a career as a children's book publisher and editor, including as founder of the Jump at the Sun imprint at Hyperion Books for Children, the Disney Book Group. She is vice president and editor-at-large for Scholastic Trade Books.
Romiette and Julio is a young adult novel by Sharon Draper, published in 1999 by Atheneum Books. It is an updated version of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Many of the characters in Draper's novel closely parallel those in Shakespeare's play. The plot updates the family feud between the Capulets and Montagues to reflect modern racial tensions between African-Americans and Hispanics in the United States. The book received mixed reviews.
Eloise Greenfield was an American children's book and biography author and poet famous for her descriptive, rhythmic style and positive portrayal of the African-American experience.
Tears of a Tiger is a young adult novel written by Sharon Draper. It was first published by Atheneum in 1994, and later on February 1, 1996 by Simon Pulse, and is the first book of the Hazelwood High Trilogy. It depicts the story of a seventeen-year-old African American boy named Andrew "Andy" Jackson, who feels deeply guilty for inadvertently causing his best friend Robert "Rob" Washington's death through drunk driving. The story is told through multiple different formats such as journal entries, first person narratives, and newspaper articles.
The Skin I'm In is a realistic fiction novel written by Sharon G. Flake. It was published by Hyperion Books on January 3, 2000. It depicts the story of seventh-grader Maleeka Madison who has low self-esteem because of her dark brown skin color. The novel's themes include self-love, self-esteem, the power of friendship, bullying and body image. The anniversary edition was released in October 2018. In 2021, Sharon Flake published a sister novel, The Life I'm In, following the character Charlese Jones.
Rita Williams-Garcia is an American writer of novels for children and young adults . In 2010, her young adult novel Jumped was a National Book Award finalist for Young People's Literature. She won the 2011 Newbery Honor Award, Coretta Scott King Award, and Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for her book One Crazy Summer. She won the PEN/Norma Klein Award. Her 2013 book, P.S. Be Eleven, was a Junior Literary Guild selection, a New York Times Editors Choice Book, and won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2014. In 2016 her book Gone Crazy in Alabama won the Coretta Scott King Award. In 2017, her book Clayton Byrd Goes Underground was a finalist for the National Book Award for young people's literature.
Copper Sun is a 2006 young adult novel by Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Sharon Draper.
Mildred DeLois Taylor is a Newbery Award-winning American young adult novelist. She is best known for her novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, part of her Logan family series.
The Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper is a young adult novel. It's the first book in the Jericho Trilogy. The book is set in high school and deals with the issues of peer pressure, acceptance, discrimination, sexual tension, and social interaction.
Tonya K. Bolden is an American writer best known for her works of children's literature, especially children's nonfiction.
Becoming Billie Holiday is a 2008 book of poetry for young readers by American poet and author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, originally published by Wordsong. It won an honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2009.
Tracy Deonn is an American author. Her debut novel Legendborn (2020) was a New York Times bestseller and received a Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent and the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Young Adult Novel. The sequel novel Bloodmarked was published in 2022 and also became a New York Times bestseller.
