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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...
This interview originally appeared in the May/June 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Diverse Books, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions. Sponsored by In Sawyer Lovett’s first novel, Shampoo...
This interview originally appeared in the May/June 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Diverse Books, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions. Sponsored by For Down Syndrome Out Loud (illustrated...