Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade readers, known for work that centers the lives and voices of Black youth and other communities of color. Born on December 6, 1983, in Washington, D.C., he earned a BA from the University of Maryland and has gone on to publish more than twenty books for children and teens, becoming a #1 New York Times bestselling writer and a widely honored figure in contemporary young people’s literature.

Reynolds is the author of the acclaimed verse novel Long Way Down, a National Book Award finalist that has received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and Coretta Scott King recognition, and has also been adapted into a graphic novel. His broader body of work includes titles such as When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), As Brave as You, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu), For Every One, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi). Among his many honors, Reynolds served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2020–2022 and is a faculty member in Lesley University’s graduate program in Writing for Young People.[5