Vashti Harrison

Vashti Harrison is an American author, illustrator, and filmmaker best known as the New York Times bestselling creator of Big, Little Leaders, Little Dreamers, and Little Legends. Her picture book Big—published in English and in Spanish as Grande / Big—won the 2024 Caldecott Medal, received Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Honors, and was a National Book Award finalist. She has also illustrated notable children’s books including Lupita Nyong’o’s Sulwe, Matthew A. Cherry’s Hair Love, Andrea Beaty’s I Love You Like Yellow, and Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic’s Hello, Star, among others.

Originally from Onley, Virginia, Harrison holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MFA in Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Her experimental films and documentaries have screened at festivals internationally, and she has worked in film and television before focusing on children’s illustration and storytelling. A two-time NAACP Image Award recipient for Outstanding Literary Work for Children and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor winner for Sulwe, she now lives in Brooklyn, New York.