'Hungering for their stories'

 

“Readers are hungry to have theirstories in the world, to see mirrors of themselves if the stories are aboutpeople like them, and to have windows if the stories are about people who havebeen historically absent in literature.” –Jacqueline Woodson 

 

Born in Columbus, OH in February of1963, Woodson has built her writing career around strong, emotional andoptimistic stories, especially for young people.  Woodson said shedislikes books that do not offer hope and often uses that philosophy in herwriting.  "If you love the people you create,” shesaid, “you can see the hope there." 

     

Woodson grew up in South Carolinaand Brooklyn, NY and started writing in Middle School.   Amongher best-known books are the Newbery Honor winners Miracle’s Boys,After Tupac and D Foster, and Brown Girl Dreaming (forwhich she also won the National Book Award).  

 

She’s written for all ages,authoring more than three dozen books ranging from Childen’s to adult and winningnearly as many major awards, including a MacArthur Foundation (Genius) Grant in2020.   Her most recent title is The Year WeLearned to Fly.

 

A one-time Young People's PoetLaureate and National Ambassador for Young People's Literature – both named bythe Library of Congress – she said she consciously writes for a youngeraudience.

 

“I love writing for young people.It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped meand informed my own journey as a writer.”