Hungry for their stories

“Readers are hungry to have their stories in the world, to see mirrors of themselves if the stories are about people like them, and to have windows if the stories are about people who have been historically absent in literature.” – Jacqueline Woodson 

Woodson has built her writing career around strong, emotional and optimistic stories, especially for young people where most of her works have been focused.  Woodson said she dislikes books that do not offer hope and often uses that philosophy in her writing.  "If you love the people you create,” she said,  “you can see the hope there." 

         Born in Ohio on this date in 1963, Woodson grew up in South Carolina and Brooklyn, NY, and started writing in Middle School, an age she now enjoys writing for and about.   Among her best-known Middle School and Young Adult books are Miracle’s Boys, After Tupac and D Foster, and the Newbery Honor-winning Brown Girl Dreaming.   The immediate past Young People's Poet Laureate (from 2015–17), she is the current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature – both named by the Library of Congress – and said she consciously writes for a younger audience.

“I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer.”

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