Today, the Brown Bookshelf is thrilled to celebrate the release of Desiree Cooper’s NOTHING SPECIAL, her picture book debut! “Nothing Special is…about a Detroit boy named Jax, who travels to Virginia to spend time with his grandparents. He thinks he’s going to do all the city things he loves, but his PopPop has other ideas,” [ Read the full article… ]
Last year, our friend Torrey Maldonado came up with a great idea – helping kids understand what Juneteenth means by sharing the reflections of Black children’s book creators. We’re thrilled that he’s back showcasing even more voices. The first federal holiday created since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery. [ Read the full article… ]
Debut young adult author Michelle Coles fought for civil rights as an attorney before expanding her mission to include writing history stories for teens that filled them with purpose and pride. Listed as one of the John & Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation’s Good Troublemakers, she says on that site: “It is my responsibility to bring [ Read the full article… ]
Years ago, when we first started the 28 Days Later initiative, I gladly took on the task of covering the illustrators. I worried though. At that time, there were only a handful of working Black illustrators in the field—about enough to count on ten fingers and a few toes. For that reason, I limited the [ Read the full article… ]
An accomplished middle-grade author with young adult and picture book projects on the way, Lakita Wilson is a name to watch. On her journey to being published, she received SCBWI’s Emerging Voices Award and earned a MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Today, she looks for new [ Read the full article… ]
According to her website, Winsome Bingham is “a soul food connoisseur, master cook, and a US Army war and disabled veteran. She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and an MFA in Writing For Children and Young Adults. She has more than 15 years of teaching experience. You can find her writing on [ Read the full article… ]
NOTE: There is a brief mention of suicide in this post. If you or anyone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Raissa Figueroa is a brilliant illustrator and graphic designer based in San Diego, California. Her artwork, largely digital, is simply stunning. A few books [ Read the full article… ]
Many times, the Brown Bookshelf family turns to Wade and Cheryl Hudson for inspiration and institutional knowledge of Black creatives in publishing – both our triumphs and our tribulations. It was our honor to sit with the Hudsons and contributors Nikki Grimes and London Ladd to talk about their latest project, an innovative and groundbreaking [ Read the full article… ]
