Malcolm Newsome is a traditionally published children’s book author and cyber security expert from the Chicago area who has a deep passion for telling stories of hope and possibilities. When he’s not writing or spending time with family, you’ll find him either reading, spending time outside in his mini-orchard, or being a lumberjack. Malcolm is the 28 Days Later Day 23 honoree.
MALCOLM NEWSOME is the author of DEAR STAR BABY (Beaming Books, Apr. 2023), SYDNEY’S BIG SPEECH (HarperCollins, Feb. 2024), I AM THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE (Co-author, Zonderkidz/HarperCollins, Jan. 2025), and THE DADDY-DAUGHTER DANCE (Holt:Macmillan, Oct. 2025). He also has forthcoming titles. Learn more about Malcolm at www.malcolmnewsome.com.
The Journey: My Path to Publishing
Toward the end of 2018 while working on a business plan for an idea I had for a startup, God’s still small voice urged me to write and use my voice. Up until then, I’d not seriously considered being a published author. Being published was something I thought would be really cool. But it was also something that I never thought I’d be good enough to do. I ended up taking time to think and pray about it more–to be sure I’d heard properly and at the start of 2019 I made a firm commitment to pursuing traditional publishing. 2019 was a year of learning about publishing and how to craft stories that traditional publishers might be interested in. I also started learning about literary agents and also attended my first writing conference. In 2020, after listening to some advice by Ray Bradbury, I made it a goal to draft a picture book each week. In the fall of 2020, I signed with my agent, James McGowan, And in December of 2020, I got my first book deal (for SYDNEY’S BIG SPEECH).
The Back Story: How I Got “The Deal”
Whenever I talk to pre-published authors, I stress the importance of community. It was through building community with other amazing authors, that I was introduced to Tamar Mays, an editor for HarperCollins. Tamar had been looking to mentor pre-published Black authors in her personal time. I had the great fortune of being selected as a mentee and it was during that time that my writing leveled up a significant amount. She taught me how to think about my stories and helped me understand how editors might be looking at them when reading them. Through the relationship with her I was able to revise several of my manuscripts and get them in shape for publication–one of those was SYDNEY’S BIG SPEECH. After I signed with an agent, we began submitting SYDNEY’S BIG SPEECH to editors. Tamar expressed immediate interest in acquiring it and the rest was history. As a shout out to Tamar, two of the other manuscripts we worked on–DEAR STAR BABY and THE DADDY-DAUGHTER DANCE–were the next two manuscripts to be acquired by different publishers.
The Inspiration: Who/What Inspired Me
My children have been my biggest inspiration. I would often make up stories for my kids at bedtime or as a way to just have fun. I wrote my first “children’s book” with my oldest son in 2011 when he was about 8 years old. Then, in 2019, when I decided to pursue traditional publishing, I was thinking a lot about my younger children (who were 6, 2, and a newborn) and the types of books that I wanted them to have access to. I was also thinking a lot about the amazing and wonderful children that tend to be overlooked. And that continues to be what inspires me and drives me to want to continue writing and publishing as many books as I can.
THE BUZZ: Reviews and Media Links
Featured on Chicago’s WGN News from the floor of the Democratic National Convention prior to Vice President Kamala Harris’s historic nomination: Video and Article here.
Kirkus Review for Sydney’s Big Speech: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/malcolm-newsome/sydneys-big-speech/
Connect with Malcolm on Social Media
Instagram: malcolm.newsome
BlueSky – mnewsome.bsky.social