In this episode, Charnaie interviews New York Times Bestselling author
Kwame Alexander.  Kwame is also a poet, educator, author of 37 books,
including THE UNDEFEATED, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, HOW TO READ A
BOOK, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, SWING, REBOUND, which was shortlisted
for prestigious Carnegie Medal, and, his NEWBERY medal-winning middle grade
novel, THE CROSSOVER. Kwame is also the Founding Editor of VERSIFY, an
imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that aims to Change the World One Word at
a Time.

Kwame discusses how his writing career he began, upcoming books and
projects he’s working on and tells us why he’s not a fan of the phrase “diverse
books”.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• How George Floyd’s death has impacted Kwame’s life personally and professionally.
• The inspiration that led Kwame to start writing kid lit.
• Which authors Kwame has frequent virtual happy hours with to gossip, share
  their work and talk about how to make the world a better place.
• Kwame’s advice for inspiring writers.
• The name of Kwame’s forthcoming writing journal for kids and his forthcoming books for middle grade readers and adults.
  
  Resources mentioned in this episode:
• Here Wee Read
• Project Lit
• The Brown Bookshelf

Connect with Charnaie online in the following places:
Blog: http://hereweeread.com
Personal Website: charnaiegordon.com
Podcast Email Address: [email protected]

Find Charnaie on the following social media platforms under the username
@hereweeread: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
Feel free to share this podcast on your social media platforms to help spread
the word to others. Thanks for listening!