Featured Authors

and Illustrators

KARLA HARRY VISITING AUTHOR: KWAME MBALIA

Kwame Mbalia is the New York Times bestselling author of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, illustrated by Eric Wilkerson, which was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor and CABA award. Along with two Tristan sequels, he is the co-author of The Last Gate of the Emperor and the editor of Black Boy Joy, a recently published middle grade anthology of stories, comics, and poems about the power of joy and the wonders of Black boyhood.

Kwame is a graduate of Howard University and currently lives in North Carolina with his family.

KARLA HARRY VISITING ILLUSTRATOR: ERIC WILKERSON


Eric Wilkerson is an illustrator who has worked in film, commercials, video games, and the publishing industry, including with Kwame Mbalia on his Tristan series. A graduate of The School of Visual Arts, he has taught in the illustration department at Syracuse University and has guest lectured at Syracuse University’s Visual Communication Symposium, Fashion Institute of Technology, and for classes at the School of Visual Arts NYC. Eric has worked with companies such as Activision, Disney Publishing, Scholastic, Random House, Upper Deck, and Weta Workshop during his nearly twenty years as a professional illustrator. He is passionate about creating work centering people of color in science fiction illustration, and continues to work to keep representation of African Americans at the core of his work.



SIMRAN JEET SINGH

Simran Jeet Singh is a writer, scholar, activist, and author of Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon. He is the Senior Advisor of Diversity and Inclusion at YSC Consulting, Visiting Professor at Union Seminary, Executive Director for the Aspen Institute’s Inclusive America Project, Equity Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, Senior Fellow for the Sikh Coalition, and is recognized among TIME Magazine’s 16 people fighting for a more equal America. Simran is a highly sought-out speaker on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and anti-racism whose work has been featured in various outlets, including NPR, CNN, TIME, BBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Simran’s childhood as a Sikh in South Texas informs his work of empathy-building as an approach for personal development and social change. He is particularly passionate about creating more cohesion, equity, and joy for all stakeholders.


MARIAHADESSA EKERE TALLIE


Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie is the author of the Ezra Jack Keats Honor book Layla’s Happiness, as well as several works for adults. She is also the subject of the short film I Leave My Colors Everywhere.
Mariahadessa grew up in New York but currently lives in Rhode Island as a Ph.D. student at Brown University. She creates cinepoems with her husband and self-care posters with her daughters. She also publishes a personal blog, The Sage Honey.

SUSAN JOYCE

Susan Joyce is a writer, marketing professional, animal lover, and the author of the true story, Billy the Rescue Dog. She is a Rhode Islander who collaborated with two other local artists, Thea Ernest and Jeanette Chow, to help her first picture book come to life.