Reading and Talking About Racism at Home and in the Classroom

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Jason Reynolds is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books, including When I Was the Greatest, Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely), As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways. He is a two-time National Book Award finalist; the recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and multiple Coretta Scott King Honors; and the winner of a Kirkus Prize, two Walter Dean Myers Awards, and an NAACP Image Award, among other honors. He lives in Washington, D.C and invites you to visit him online at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is the author of many books, including How to Raise an Antiracist; How to Be a (Young) Antiracist, co-authored with Nic Stone; Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Jason Reynolds; and Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon, adapted for young readers. He invites you to visit him online at ibramxkendi.com. 

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Ibram X. Kendi is a #1 New York Times-bestselling author, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is an Ideas Columnist at the Atlantic and a correspondent with CBS News. He is the author of five books, including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction; the New York Times bestsellers How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, coauthored with Jason Reynolds; and Antiracist Baby.

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Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes is the New York Times bestselling author of several books for youth, including Ghost Boys; Black Brother, Black Brother; Paradise on Fire; and Treasure Island: Runaway Gold. She is the recipient of many distinguished awards and honors, including the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Green Earth Book Award, an NAACP Image Award nomination, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Octavia E. Butler Award. Rhodes is the Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University. She invites you to connect with her at jewellparkerrhodes.com.

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Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 50 books for children and young adults, including The Red Pencil and Bird in a Box. She has also produced several collaborations with her husband two-time Caldecott Honor-winning artist Brian Pinkney, including Sit -In, Martin & Mahalia, and Hand in Hand, winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award. Ms. Pinkney has been recognized by Children’s Health magazine as one of the “25 Most Influential People in our Children’s Lives,” and has been inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Daniel Minter has illustrated over a dozen children’s books, including Going Down Home with Daddy which won a 2020 Caldecott Honor and Ellen’s Broom which won a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor. He is known for his work in the mediums of painting and assemblage. He lives in Portland, Maine.

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Vashti Harrison is the New York Times bestselling creator of Big, which was awarded the 2024 Caldecott Medal, a Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor, in addition to being a National Book Award finalist. Vashti is also the #1 New York Times bestselling creator of Little Leaders, Little Dreamers, and Little Legends, and the illustrator of Lupita Nyong’o’s Sulwe (for which she received a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor), Matthew A. Cherry’s Hair Love, Andrea Beaty’s I Love You Like Yellow, and Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic’s Hello, Star, among others. A two-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children, Vashti lives in Brooklyn, New York, and invites you to visit her online @vashtiharrison or at vashtiharrison.com.

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Brandy Colbert is the critically acclaimed author of the novels Pointe, Finding Yvonne, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, and Stonewall Award winner Little & Lion. Born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, she now lives and writes in Los Angeles.

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Sherri Winston is the author of President of the Whole Fifth Grade; President of the Whole Sixth Grade; President of the Whole Sixth Grade: Girl Code; The Sweetest Sound; Jada Sly, Artist & Spy; The Kayla Chronicles; and Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution. She lives with her family in Florida.

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Zetta Elliott is an award-winning author of forty books for young readers. Her first young adult poetry collection, Say Her Name, was nominated for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award. Her picture book, A Place Inside of Me: a Poem to Heal the Heart, was a Caldecott Honoree and named a 2021 Notable Poetry Book by the National Council of Teachers of English. Her poetry has been published in We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices; New Daughters of Africa and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South. She lives in Chicago, IL. Her website is zettaelliott.com.


David Anthony Geary is a transdisciplinary artist working in a variety of mediums, for the last 25 years incorporating painting, printmaking, collage, assemblage, sculpture, and photography into his practice. His artistic training took place in New Orleans, LA at Xavier University. David’s work has been featured several times in Starbucks store designs nationally, including the flagship Reserve Roastery. His Great Migration series is on permanent exhibition at the University of Chicago. He has also designed historical city landmarks in Chicago, such as the Ida B. Wells Memorial Marker and the Great Migration Suspension Bridge Marker. This is David’s debut picture book. For more information visit: http://www.davidanthonyart.com.
 

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WALTER MOSLEY is one of America’s most celebrated writers. He was given the 2020 National Book Award’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, and honored with the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, the Robert Kirsch Award, numerous Edgars, and several NAACP Image Awards. His work is translated into 25 languages.  He has published fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Nation. As an executive producer, he adapted his novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, for AppleTV+ and serves as a writer and executive producer for FX’s “Snowfall.” He divides his time between Brooklyn and Santa Monica.
 

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Karyn Parsons is best known for her role as Will Smith’s cousin Hilary Banks on NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. After leaving acting behind, Karyn has gone on to found and produce Sweet Blackberry, an award-winning series of children’s animated films, to share stories about unsung Black heroes in history, featuring narration from stars such as Alfre Woodard, Queen Latifah, and Chris Rock. The videos have been screened on HBO and Netflix, and enjoyed by schools and libraries across the country. She is the author of Clouds over California and How High the Moon. Karyn lives with her family in Providence, Rhode Island.

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Bryan Collier has illustrated more than twenty-five picture books, including the award-winning Trombone Shorty, Dave the Potter, and Knock Knock: My Father’s Dream for Me, as well as City Shapes, and Fifty Cents and a Dream, and has received four Caldecott Honors and six Coretta Scott King Awards.  He lives with his wife and children in Marlboro, New York.

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Oge Mora graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in illustration. When not painting in her studio, Oge is in the kitchen cooking her late grandmother’s recipes. Her first picture book, Thank You, Omu!, was a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent illustrator award, an Ezra Jack Keats illustrator award, a New York Times Notable Book and Editors’ Choice, and a Junior Library Guild selection. Her newest picture book is called Saturday. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and invites you to visit her website at http://www.ogemora.com.

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Sharee Miller is the author and illustrator of the picture books Princess Hair, Don’t Touch My Hair!, and Michelle’s Garden. She is also the award-winning creator of the Curlfriends graphic novel series and the illustrator of the Shai and Emmie series written by Quvenzhané Wallis and Nancy Ohlin as well as Sam’s Super Seats by Keah Brown. She lives in Jersey City with her spouse, son, and two cats, Pumpkin and Spice.

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Ronni Davis lives in Chicago, where she copyedits everything from TV commercials to billboards by day, and writes contemporary teen novels about brown girls falling in love by night. She is the author of When the Stars Lead to You. You can visit her at ronnidavis.com, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @lilrongal.

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