Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes was born in Harlem in 1950. At the age of 13, she gave her first poetry reading, at the Countee Cullen Library, a block away from where she was born. As a teenager, she began publishing her poetry, and was mentored by writer James Baldwin. She attended Rutgers University, where she earned her BA in English and African languages, studying with Toni Cade Bambara, Nikki Giovanni, and Miguel Algarín, among others.

Grimes is the author of numerous award-winning books for children and young adults, including Garvey’s Choice (2016), Poems in the Attic (2015), Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope (2008), which was a New York Times bestseller and a NAACP Image Award winner; and Bronx Masquerade (2002).  Grimes' memoir Ordinary Hazards (Wordsong) was released in 2019. She has received many honors, including the 2003 Coretta Scott King Award, given each year by the American Library Association to an African-American author and illustrator “for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions”; the 2006 National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children; the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award; and the 2017 Wilder Medal (now known as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award).