Mildred D. Taylor is the author of nine novels includingΒ The Road to Memphis,Β Let the Circle Be Unbroken,Β The Land, andΒ Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.Β Her booksΒ have won numerous awards, among them a Newbery Medal (forΒ Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry), four Coretta Scott King Awards, and aΒ BostonΒ GlobeβHorn BookΒ Award. Her bookΒ The LandΒ was awarded theΒ L.A. TimesΒ Book Prize and the PEN Award for Childrenβs Literature. In 2003, Ms. Taylor was named the First Laureate of the NSK Neustadt Prize for Childrenβs Literature.
Mildred Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from the University of Toledo, she served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia for two years and then spent the next year traveling throughout the United States, working and recruiting for the Peace Corps. At the University of Coloradoβs School of Journalism, she helped created a Black Studies program and taught in the program for two years. Ms. Taylor has worked as a proofreader-editor and as program coordinator for an international house and a community free school. She now devotes her time to her family, writing, and what she terms βthe family ranchβ in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.