Sherri L. Smith

Sherri L. Smith is an award-winning American author of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, and co-author (with Elizabeth Wein) of American Wings: Chicago’s Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky, a 2024 narrative history of Black aviators in Chicago and their fight for desegregation in aviation. Born in Chicago and now based in Los Angeles, she has written multiple acclaimed works including Flygirl, winner of the California Book Awards Gold Medal, The Blossom and the Firefly, winner of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award, as well as Orleans and the nonfiction title Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?

Smith’s books have appeared on numerous state reading lists and have been recognized by organizations such as the American Library Association, Junior Library Guild, and the Amelia Bloomer Project. In addition to her books, she has written comics for properties including Wonder Woman, Bart Simpson, and James Cameron’s Avatar, and teaches in the MFA program in Writing for Children at Hamline University, having also taught creative writing at Goddard College.