She Persisted Books

Chelsea Clinton is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World; She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History; Don’t Let Them Disappear: 12 Endangered Species Across the Globe; It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!; Start Now!: You Can Make a Difference and, with Devi Sridhar, Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why? She is also the Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, where she works on many initiatives, including those that help empower the next generation of leaders. She lives in New York City with her husband, Marc, their children and their dog, Soren. You can follow Chelsea Clinton on Twitter @ChelseaClinton or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chelseaclinton.

Andrea Davis Pinkney says, “As an African American child growing up in the 1960s, at a time when I didn’t see others like me in children’s books, the expressiveness of Keats’s illustrations had a profound effect.”

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of many books for children, including My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle & Journey to Alvin Ailey, which was an ALA Notable Book, an IRA Notable Book for a Global Society, and an NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended title for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children; Satchel Paige, an ALA Notable Book and a Top 10 Sports Book for Youth; and Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass, which The New York Times Book Review called, “visceral, intimate, and plainly told, this story is sure to move young children, and also motivate them to read more.” Her books were all illustrated by her husband, James E. Ransome. A graduate of the Pratt Institute, she holds a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from NYU. She lives with her family in upstate New York. Visit her at LesaClineRansome.com.

Michelle Knudsen has worked in libraries in New York City and Ithaca, New York. She is the author of more than forty books, among them Marilyn’s Monster, illustrated by Matt Phelan; Big Mean Mike, illustrated by Scott Magoon; and Argus, illustrated by Andréa Wesson. Michelle Knudsen lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Meg Medina is the author of the Newbery Medal-winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which was also a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist. Her young adult novels include Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award; Burn Baby Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. She is also the author of picture books Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor Book, and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Rita Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor-winning novel, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The sequel, P.S. Be Eleven, was also a Coretta Scott King Award winner and an ALA Notable Children’s Book for Middle Readers. She is also the author of six distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), and Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, is on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children & Young Adults Program, and has two adult daughters, Stephanie and Michelle, and a son-in-law, Adam.

Kekla Magoon is the author of the Robyn Hoodlum series as well as several young adult novels, including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book How It Went Down and The Rock and the River, for which she received the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award and an NAACP Image Award nomination. She also coauthored X: A Novel (with Ilyasah Shabazz), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and received an NAACP Image Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor. In addition to writing fiction, Kekla visits schools and libraries nationwide and teaches writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Visit her online at www.keklamagoon.com and on Twitter at @KeklaMagoon.

Deborah Heiligman has written many books for children, including National Book Award Finalist Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith; Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner Vincent and Theo The Van Gogh Brothers; and The Boy Who Loved Math. She lives with her family in New York City.

Ruby Shamir (www.rubyshamir.com) worked at the White House in the Clinton administration for three and a half years, for two of which she served in the First Lady’s office, and she also led Hillary Rodham Clinton’s New York Senate office. Now she works as a writer and literary researcher in the Bronx, New York, where she lives with her husband and three children. She is also the author of What’s the Big Deal About First Ladies, What’s the Big Deal About Freedom, and What’s the Big Deal About Elections. Follow Ruby on Twitter @ruby_shamir.

Renée Watson grew up in Portland Oregon, came to New York for her degree in writing, and now teaches poetry in the New York City Schools. Her books include Betty Before X, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, and What Momma Left Me which debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children’s Booksellers Association.

Kelly Starling Lyons grew up in Pittsburgh. She is the award-winning author of several books for children including Ellen’s Broom, a Coretta Scott King illustrator award book, and Hope’s Gift.

Katheryn Russell-Brown is the author of Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, which received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, the Eureka! Honor Award, was nominated for the NAACP Image Award, and was named a Best Book of 2014 by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature, among others. She is a professor of Law and the director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida. Katheryn grew up in a family of music lovers, where R & B was an integral part of the sounds of daily life. She lives in Gainesville, FL. www.krbrown.net

Aisha Saeed is the author of Written in the Stars, which was listed as a best book of 2015 by Bank Street Books, a 2016 YALSA Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers, and named one of the top ten books all Young Georgians Should Read in 2016. She is also the author of the middle grade novel Amal Unbound, which has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and is a Global Read Aloud for 2018. She is also the author of the picture book Bilal Cooks Daal. Aisha is also a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. She has been featured on MTV, Huffington Post, NBC, and the BBC, and her writings have appeared in publications including the journal ALAN and the Orlando Sentinel.

Monica Brown, PhD, is the award- winning author of Waiting for the Biblioburro/ Esperando el Biblioburro, Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/no combina, and the Lola Levine chapter book series, including Lola Levine Is Not Mean; Lola Levine, Drama Queen; and Lola Levine and the Ballet Scheme. She lives in Arizona with her family and teaches at Northern Arizona University. Find out more at www.monicabrown.net.

Traci Sorell began writing for young people when she saw a lack of children’s books featuring Native Americans to share with her son. She is an enrolled Cherokee Nation citizen and lives in northeastern Oklahoma where her tribe is located. We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga is her first picture book.

Shelli R. Johannes never warmed up to creepy crawly bugs, but she always loved zoology and biology. In fact, she can often be found on highways and country roads saving strays and other jaywalking critters, or volunteering with animal conservations groups like The Atlanta Zoo, The Dolphin Project, and animal rescue centers. Unfortunately, she learned early on that chemistry (a.k.a. cooking) was not her favorite science, often resulting in odd reactions and minor explosions. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two kids, one bird, one fish, and two crazy-haired Doodles who, just like Einstein, all who seem to love fruit and dessert, but loathe veggies.

Maryann Cocca-Leffler is the Author and Illustrator of over 60 books for children. Maryann’s books, “Janine” and “Janine and the Field Day Finish”, (A 2016 ILA Teacher’s Pick) were inspired by her daughter, Janine. (www.janinesparty.com). Other recent books include, “Same Way Ben” (Albert Whitman 2019), “The Belonging Tree” (Christy Ottaviano Books 2020) and “The Power of YET” (Abrams 2021). Maryann grew up in Boston (depicted in her favorite book “Bus Route to Boston”) and now lives in Maine where she is busy on her next book. She loves to connect with kids in classrooms, in person or virtually, to inspire kindness, creativity and literacy.

Alexandra Boiger is the illustrator of numerous children’s books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins. Ms. Boiger lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter. Visit her at AlexandraBoiger.com.

Gillian Flint loves drawing and painting, and she has been illustrating professionally since graduating college. She enjoys creating a variety of styles to work in using watercolors, crayons, ink, and digital illustration. Gillian is based in Saddleworth, in northwest England.