Early Sunday Morning

Denene Millner is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and director of the Denene Millner Books imprint. She has written thirty books for adults, teens, and children, among them Around the Way Girl, a memoir with actress Taraji P. Henson, and Early Sunday Morning, a children’s picture book. She is also the founder of MyBrownBaby.com, a critically acclaimed blog that examines the intersection of parenting and race, and the host of Speakeasy with Denene, a podcast produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting. Denene lives in Atlanta with her two daughters and their adorable Goldendoodle, Teddy.

Vanessa Brantley-Newton is a self taught illustrator of more than 80 children’s books. She first fell in love with picture books when she was read the Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats as a child. It was the first time Vanessa saw an image of a brown child that looked like her. Diversity is at the very heart of her illustrations and storytelling. She has written and illustrated three of her own books, Let Freedom Sing, Don’t Let Auntie Mabel Bless The Table and Grandma’s Purse. Vanessa wants every child to know the joy she felt when she saw herself in a picture book. “I want every child to know that I see you.” Vanessa is a lover of music and food. When she isn’t creating children’s Books she is cooking or singing somewhere. She lives in NC with her husband of 25 years and her daughter Zoe.