Jacqueline Woodsonย (www.jacquelinewoodson.com)ย is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Childrenโs Literature Legacy Award. Sheย was the 2018โ2019 National Ambassador for Young Peopleโs Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young Peopleโs Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for herย New York Timesย bestselling memoirย Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult booksย Red at the Bone, aย New York Timesย bestseller, andย Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist.ย Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winnerย Before the Ever After;ย New York Timesย bestsellersย The Day You Beginย andย Harbor Me;ย The Other Side,ย Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor bookย Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winnersย Feathers,ย Show Way, andย After Tupac and D Foster; andย Miracle's Boys, which received theย LA Timesย Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
James Ransome (www.jamesransome.com) has illustrated more than fifty books for children, including This Is the Rope (by Jacqueline Woodson), and won the Coretta Scott King Award for The Creation (by James Weldon Johnson). His work has also earned him a Coretta Scott King Honor, IBBY Honour, ALA Notable, NAACP Image Award, Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and Rip Van Winkle Award. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, author Lesa Cline-Ransome, and their family.