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“As human beings, our real lives are our precious secret.” From Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan My dear friend, writer and artist Ashley Bryan (1923–2022), nicknamed me Sheila of Oz. Soon after OZ Children’s Bookstore opened, in June 1982,...
First, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Jury for honoring me with this prestigious award. I humbly accept the 2025 Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. At the same time, I feel a mix of emotions, as my dear friend...
One night, a few very talented illustrators represented by my agency, Gallt and Zacker, had dinner after the Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators. All of them were among the best at what they do in the picture book field. I happened to sit across from Sean Rubin,...
During the pandemic, while being quarantined with the rest of the world, I found myself unable to read or write much. Because of this, I, like many of us, slipped down the rabbit hole (or mudslide or goldmine or cesspool, depending on the day) of the internet. My questions were...
I am filled with gratitude because I know that none of this had to be: not the eighty-plus books, not the nineteen American Library Association Youth Media Awards, not the NAACP Image Awards, not the nomination as Young People’s Poet Laureate, not the opportunities to travel across the country and...
Under the white eyelet drapery of my canopy bed, I sat, naming my dolls: Annabelle, Clara, Elizabeth. My dolls and I traveled to worlds within worlds that stretched far beyond our peaceful cul-de-sac in Norman, Oklahoma. Cabbage Patch Kids and China dolls: the first characters in my paintings. Every night...
Photo courtesy of Erin Entrada Kelly. I’ll start with thank-yous. I’d like to thank the ALA and ALSC, especially the Newbery committee and its chair, Maeve Visser Knoth. I’d like to thank my editor, Virginia Duncan, and the entire team at Greenwillow Books and HarperCollins, including art director Sylvie Le...
On January 27, 2025, the Youth Media Awards were announced, as usual, during what was long known as the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference (in recent years: LibLearnX). It seems likely that this was the last wintertime conference in that form. With so much upheaval and uncertainty (e.g., book bans,...
“Where do you get your ideas?” I’ve been asked this question by children countless times during author visits, but I still love answering it. “The same place you do,” I respond. “Where do your ideas come from?” Students and I share inspirations: pets, dreams, things we experience, unexpected ideas that...
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