Pleased 2024, Buddies!
We had been on hiatus most of final 12 months. Pleased to be again celebrating excellent Black youngsters’s ebook creators.
This time, we’re doing one thing new. We’re collaborating with our Amplify Black Tales fellows to salute their work and offer you an replace on the members of The Brown Bookshelf crew.
Not accustomed to Amplify Black Tales? It was a tremendous 2021 initiative co-sponsored by The Brown Bookshelf and The Highlights Basis that supplied a year-long program to empower two dozen revealed Black youngsters’s ebook creators with courses, group, sources and extra. So happy with the distinction Amplify has been making. This system was conceived by The Brown Bookshelf, Renée Watson and Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson with unbelievable assist from The Highlights Basis. It was a residing dedication to our 2020 Kidlit Trade Name to Motion.
Starting tomorrow, we’ll function an Amplify fellow in a self-authored put up. That might be adopted, beginning on February 21, with every day profiles on The Brown Bookshelf crew and can shut out with a put up by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson who’re celebrating the thirty fifth anniversary of their ground-breaking firm, Simply Us Books.
Take a look at our sneak peek of 4 mini profiles of Amplify creators under, that includes phrases from their web sites and The Highlights Basis web site.
Time to have a good time! Please be part of us by sharing the posts on social media, studying and sharing the books of our honorees and contemplating them in your collections.
Particular because of Nikki Shannon Smith, TeMika Grooms, Bryan Patrick Avery and Mélina Mangal for his or her assist with this 12 months’s 28 Days Later. We’re happy with our legacy as The Brown Bookshelf and look ahead to sharing information about an thrilling new initiative over the approaching months. Thanks in your assist.
Okay. Tempest Bradford
“I’m Okay. Tempest Bradford, a Black, queer, cis lady (pronouns: she/her), creator, trainer, media critic, podcaster, and group organizer who writes fantasy and science fiction steeped in Black Woman Magic. I’m at the moment hunkered down within the Pacific Northwest doing my finest to alter the tradition for the higher from my nook of the world.
I write speculative fiction. That’s a elaborate means of claiming I write fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, and infrequently stuff that slides between genres. I write about Black women and girls who’re magical and good and crammed with Black pleasure.”
Her debut middle-grade novel was Ruby Finley vs. The Interstellar Invasion.
Learn Okay. Tempest Bradford’s full bio right here.
Hasani Claxton
“My work and sculptures spotlight the individuality of Black individuals — a luxurious usually denied to us in Western society. My work is anxious with subcultures that defy widespread conceptions of Blackness: Black nerds, punk rockers, bohemians, amongst others. Equally, my work disregards cultural expectations, discovering inspiration in Japanese anime and manga, in addition to American comics. I merge the eccentric visible language of those mediums with realist portray and sculpture, thus blurring the traces between realism and surrealism, between widespread tradition and effective artwork. Every work presents a crossover of concepts, affirming that tradition is itself an infinitely malleable medium.”
He was a contributing creator to The Antiracist Kitchen: 21 Tales (and Recipes), edited by fellow Amplify creator, Nadia L. Hohn, and his first graphic novel is scheduled for launch in 2026.
Learn Hasani Claxton’s bio right here.
Christine Kendall
“Christine Kendall grew up in a household of artists, the fourth of six youngsters, the place everybody studied the piano together with one different instrument. She nonetheless feels sorry for the neighbors. They awakened one morning and located themselves residing subsequent door to a flute, two clarinets, a french horn, a cello, a set of drums, and at all times, at all times any individual on the piano. Christine wasn’t any good on the clarinet or the piano however she beloved writing.
Her quick fiction has appeared in quite a few literary journals and her debut novel, Driving Probability, was nominated for a NAACP Picture Award. Her second novel, The True Definition of Neva Beane, is out now from Scholastic. An energetic member of the literary group, Christine serves as a juror for the New York Metropolis Guide Awards. She at the moment lives in Philadelphia the place, together with native author Matt Jakubowski, she co-curates and hosts the award profitable studying collection Artistic on the Cannery.”
Study extra about Christine Kendall right here.
Debbie Ann Taylor
“I write for kids as a result of I do know the ability of language and the significant impact that books have. I write books to counterpoint their lives, broaden their data, and instill that love of language. I’m additionally involved in creating books that may give voice to characters usually absent from youngsters’s literature, particularly ladies in STEM and working-class characters. Such books will promote resilience and fortitude however may even elicit marvel and pleasure. Kids want books that fulfill and fortify them and that may problem and empower them.”
Her books embrace Candy Music in Harlem, illustrated by Frank Morrison, and Over in Motown, illustrated by Keisha Morris.
Study extra about Debbie Ann Taylor right here.
We really feel a celebration approaching. Right here’s who else might be featured:
Day 15 – Cathy Ann Johnson-Conforto
Day 22 – Kelly Starling Lyons and Gwendolyn Hooks
Day 24 – Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Day 29 – Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson
