Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander is an American poet, educator, publisher, and Emmy Award–winning producer, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books for young readers and adults. Born Edward Curtis Kwame Alexander II in New York City on August 21, 1968, he is best known for works such as The Crossover, which won the 2015 John Newbery Medal and has been adapted into an Emmy Award–winning Disney+ series, and The Undefeated, a National Book Award nominee and Caldecott Medal–winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson. His novel The Door of No Return, a historical work set in what is now Ghana and first published in 2022, is the opening volume in a trilogy about a boy who becomes caught up in the transatlantic slave trade and has received an Audie Award.

Alexander is also the author of The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander Engages Students in Writing Workshop, a professional resource in which he shares strategies for using poetry to energize writing instruction and motivate reluctant writers. His broader career includes extensive literacy advocacy and educational work with schoolchildren, reflecting his longstanding commitment to introducing young people to literature and the craft of writing.