Happy 2024, Friends! We were on hiatus most of last year. Happy to be back celebrating outstanding Black children’s book creators. This time, we’re doing something new. We’re collaborating with our Amplify Black Stories fellows to salute their work and give you an update on the members of The Brown Bookshelf team. Not familiar with Amplify [ Read the full article… ]
28 Days
Day 28 Throwback: Eloise Greenfield
I had the opportunity to meet her at the Coretta Scott King Awards breakfast in 2018, and could barely speak. This was THEEEEE Eloise Greenfield, after all! I still knew this by heart: My cousin comes to visit and you know he’s from the South ’Cause every word he says just kind of slides out [ Read the full article… ]
Day 27 Throwback: Sharee Miller
Since this 2016 chat, Sharee Miller has published MICHELLE’S GARDEN: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change, and I’m absolutely thrilled about her upcoming graphic novel series, CURLFRIENDS, coming this Fall! Until then, get to know this gifted and multifaceted artist in the interview below. Here at The Brown Bookshelf, it’s a special treat [ Read the full article… ]
Day 26 Throwback: Atinuke
Since this 2012 profile Atinuke has gone on to publish many more titles, including TOO SMALL TOLA and AFRICA, AMAZING AFRICA. One thing that hasn’t changed? This writer and oral storyteller’s vivid and vibrant storytelling style. Read about Atinuke below. Author and storyteller Atinuke’s delightful and award-winning ANNA HIBISCUS and NO. 1 CAR SPOTTER books [ Read the full article… ]
Day 25 Throwback: Useni Eugene Perkins
I’m a bit of a theatre geek, and after this 2018 conversation with Chicago icon Useni Eugene Perkins, I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of his BLACK FAIRY AND OTHER PLAYS, published by the legendary Third World Press. In the introduction he writes, “The images children associate with during their formative [ Read the full article… ]
Day 24 Throwback: Marguerite Abouet
The original conversation with Marguerite Abouet happened back in 2010 — and in French! In any language, she is as thoughtful and delightful as her work. Marguerite Abouet was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1971, and sent to study in France at the age of 12, under the care of a great uncle. She [ Read the full article… ]
Day 23 Throwback: Malaika Rose Stanley
We first featured Malaika Rose Stanley in 2013, and she was a joy. Ms. Stanley passed away in 2019. “My friend Malaika Rose Stanley, who has died of cancer aged 65, was a pioneering children’s author, educator and activist. Ros, as she was known to her family, was forthright, funny and fierce, and she made [ Read the full article… ]
Day 22 Throwback: Malorie Blackman
“I spent so long, especially as a child and a teen, being told that either I had no voice or nobody wanted to hear my voice that by the time I hit my twenties and I was writing I thought, ‘No’. That’s why it is called Just Sayin’ because I’m going to speak loud and [ Read the full article… ]