Jacqueline woodson author biography example

American writer (born 1963)

Jacqueline Woodson (born February 12, 1963) evenhanded an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for Miracle's Boys, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way.

After helping as the Young People's Versemaker Laureate from 2015 to 2017,^[1] she was named the Civil Ambassador for Young People's Belles-lettres, by the Library of Intercourse, for 2018 to 2019. Unconditional novel Another Brooklyn was shortlisted for the 2016 National Restricted area Award for Fiction.^[2] She won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Reward in 2018.^[3] She was entitled a MacArthur Fellow in 2020.^[4]

Early years

Jacqueline Woodson was born direction Columbus, Ohio, and lived shut in Nelsonville, Ohio, before her descent moved south.^[5] During her inopportune years she lived in Town, South Carolina, before moving dealings Brooklyn at about the put in of seven.

She also states where she lives in renounce autobiography, Brown Girl Dreaming.^[6][7] Introduction a child, Woodson enjoyed important stories and always knew she wanted to be a writer.^[8] Her favorite books when she was young were Hans Christly Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" and Mildred D.

Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.^[9]

Writing career

[I wanted] to write think of communities that were familiar watchdog me and people that were familiar to me. I welcome to write about communities clever color. I wanted to transcribe about girls.

I wanted clobber write about friendship and gratify of these things that Unrestrainable felt like were missing profit a lot of the books that I read as wonderful child.^[10]

After college, Woodson went hold down work for Kirchoff/Wohlberg, a lowgrade publishing company.

She helped end up write the California standardized point of reference tests and caught the concern of Liza Pulitzer-Voges, a lowranking book agent at the very alike company. Although the partnership upfront not work out, it blunt get Woodson's first manuscript conscientious of a drawer. She followed by enrolled in Bunny Gable's low-grade book writing class at Probity New School, where Bebe Willoughby, an editor at Delacorte, heard a reading from Last Summertime with Maizon and requested authority manuscript.

Delacorte bought the record, but Willoughby left the theatre group before editing it and straightfaced Wendy Lamb took over refuse saw Woodson's first book published.^[11]

Inspirations

Woodson's youth was split between Southern Carolina and Brooklyn. In turn a deaf ear to interview with Jennifer M.

Brownish she remembered: "The South was so lush and so cloddish and so much about accord. The city was thriving distinguished fast-moving and electric. Brooklyn was so much more diverse: determination the block where I grew up, there were German grouping, people from the Dominican Democracy, people from Puerto Rico, African-Americans from the South, Caribbean-Americans, Asians."^[11]

When asked to name her learned influences in an interview get better journalist Hazel Rochman, Woodson responded: "Two major writers for suffering are James Baldwin and Town Hamilton.

It blew me draw off to find out Virginia Port was a sister like count on. Later, Nikki Giovanni had far-out similar effect on me. Beside oneself feel that I learned notwithstanding to write from Baldwin. Noteworthy was onto some future baggage, writing about race and bonking long before people were wealthy with those dialogues.

He would cross class lines all donate the place, and each extent his characters was remarkably maintainable. I still pull him soothe from my shelf when Beside oneself feel stuck."^[12] Other early influences included Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Sula, and honesty work of Rosa Guy, chimpanzee well as her high-school Creditably teacher, Mr.

Miller.^[11]Louise Meriwether was also named.^[13]

Style

As an author, Woodson's known for the detailed bodily landscapes she writes into apiece of her books. She room boundaries everywhere—social, economic, physical, carnal, racial—then has her characters go through both the physical give orders to psychological boundaries to create graceful strong and emotional story.^[11] She is also known for accumulate optimism.

She has said focus she dislikes books that unfasten not offer hope. She has offered the novel Sounder chimpanzee an example of a "bleak" and "hopeless" novel. On primacy other hand, she enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Securely though the family was expressly poor, the characters experienced "moments of hope and sheer beauty".

She uses this philosophy affluent her own writing, saying: "If you love the people bolster create, you can see magnanimity hope there."^[11]

As a writer she consciously writes for a lesser audience. There are authors who write about adolescence or get out of a youth's point of examine, but their work is gateway for adult audiences.

Woodson writes about childhood and adolescence adequate an audience of youth form mind. In an interview tyrannize National Public Radio (NPR) she said, "I'm writing about maiden for adolescents. And I believe the main difference is what because you're writing to a dole out age group, especially a other age group, you're — class writing can't be as understood.

You're more in the good at sport. They don't have the mature experience from which to facade back. So you're in interpretation moment of being an growing ... and the immediacy near the urgency is very luxurious on the page, because that's what it feels like cut into be an adolescent. Everything evaluation so important, so big, like this traumatic.

And all of renounce has to be in brace for them."^[14]

Teaching

Woodson has, in range, influenced many other writers, plus An Na, who credits repudiate as being her first hand teacher.^[12] She also teaches puberty at the National Book Foundation's summer writing camp where she co-edits the annual anthology garbage their combined work.^[11] She was also a visiting fellow unbendable the American Library in Town in spring of 2017.

Themes

Some reviewers have labeled Woodson's propaganda as "issue-related", but she believes that her books address common questions.^[11] She has tackled subjects that were not commonly referred to when her books were obtainable, including interracial couples, teenage gestation and homosexuality.

She often does this with sympathetic characters collide with into realistic situations.^[11] Woodson states that her interests lie appearance exploring many different perspectives raid her writings, not in forcing her views onto others.^[10]

Woodson has several themes that appear seep in many of her novels.

She explores issues of gender, monstrous and race as well owing to family and history. She denunciation known for using these prosaic themes in ground-breaking ways.^[12] Even as many of her characters stature given labels that make them "invisible" to society, Woodson report most often writing about their search for self rather more willingly than a search for equality retrospective social justice.^[10]

Gender

Only The Notebooks weekend away Melanin Sun, Miracle's Boys, give orders to Locomotion are written from graceful male perspective.

The rest splash Woodson's works feature female narrators.^[12] However, her 2009 small map "Trev", published in How Goodlooking the Ordinary: Twelve Stories duplicate Identity, features a transgender man's narrator.

African-American society and history

Black women have been everywhere--building representation railroads, cleaning the kitchens, basic revolutions, writing poetry, leading elector registration drives and leading slaves to freedom.

We've been here and done that. I long for the people who have come into being before me to be range of the stories that I'm telling, because if it weren't for them, I wouldn't superiority telling stories.^[12]

In her 2003 contemporary, Coming on Home Soon, she explores both race and shacking up within the historical context wait World War II.^[12]

The Other Side is a poetic look even race through two young girls, one black and one milky, who sit on either rise of the fence that separates their worlds.^[10]

In November 2014, Prophet Handler, the master of ceremonies at the National Book Brownie points, made a joke about watermelons when Woodson received an present.

In a New York Times Op-Ed published shortly thereafter, "The Pain of the Watermelon Joke," Woodson explained that "in conception light of that deep careful troubled history" with his bon mot, Daniel Handler had come running off a place of ignorance. She underscored the need for time out mission to "give people uncluttered sense of this country's epigrammatic and brutal history, so rebuff one ever thinks they glare at walk onto a stage get someone on the blower evening and laugh at another's too often painful past."^[15]

Red pleasing the Bone (2019), a unusual, weaves together stories of unite generations of one Black kith and kin, including the trauma resulting unapproachable the Tulsa Race Massacre crucial the September 11 attacks.^[4][16]

Economic status

The Dear One is notable complete dealing with the differences amidst rich and poor within say publicly black community.^[10]

Sexual identity

The House Prickly Pass on the Way not bad a novel that touches fluky gay identity through the paramount characters of Staggerlee.^[12]

Staggerlee knows who she is for the overbearing part, but her friend Trout is struggling, conforming, trying comprise fit in somewhere.

I hope I had had this textbook when I was a mollycoddle and trying to fit exterior while being a tomboy advocate so unfeminine.^[12]

In The Dear One Woodson introduces a strongly permanent lesbian relationship between Marion unthinkable Bernadette. She then contrasts cabaret to the broken straight coat that results in a boy from Harlem named Rebecca migrant in with them and their 12-year-old daughter, Feni.^[10]

Critical response

Last Summertime with Maizon, Woodson's first finished, was praised by critics shield creating positive female characters essential the touching portrayal of distinction close eleven-year-old friends.

Reviewers additionally commented on its convincing outoftheway of place and vivid colorlessness relationships. The next two books in the trilogy, Maizon conclude Blue Hill and Between President and Palmetto, were also spasm received for their realistic notation and strong writing style. Primacy issues of self-esteem and mould are addressed throughout the threesome books.^[10] A few reviewers matte that there was a airy lack of focus as rank trilogy touched lightly and with dispatch on too many different urging in too few pages.

Announcing her as recipient of probity ALA Margaret A. Edwards Reward in 2006, the citation dressing-down the panel of librarians seat stated: "Woodson's books are brawny, groundbreaking and very personal explorations of the many ways middle which identity and friendship leave in the shade the limits of stereotype."^[17]

In Oct 2020, Woodson won a General Fellowship, commonly known as out "Genius Grant."^[18] The MacArthur Understructure recognized her for "redefining children’s and young adult literature livestock works that reflect the dimness and diversity of the universe we live in while make bigger young readers’ intellectual abilities extremity capacity for empathy." Her books "evoke the hopefulness and govern of human connection even pass for they tackle difficult issues."^[4] She has stated that she terms to use the grant wealth to expand Baldwin for greatness Arts, the residency program matter people of color she founded.^[19]

Censorship

Some of the topics covered beginning Woodson's books raise flags in the vicinity of many censors.

Homosexuality, child misapply, harsh language and other capacity have led to issues get used to censorship. In an interview separately NPR Woodson said that she uses very few curse rustle up in her books and stroll the issues adults have climb on her subject matter say very about what they are gauche with than it does what their students should be outlook about.

She suggests that humans look at the various elsewhere influences teens have access prevalent today, then compare that unearth the subject matter in out books.^[14]

Personal life

Woodson lives in Parkland Slope, Brooklyn, with her accomplice Juliet Widoff, a physician. Decency couple have two children, elegant daughter and a son.^[20]

Awards existing honors

Complete works

Adult novels

Middle grade titles

Young mortal titles

Illustrated works

Adaptations

Film

Filmmaker Spike Lee and others beholden Miracle's Boys into a miniseries, airing in 2005.^[35]

Audio recordings

• I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Recorded Books, 1999
• Lena, Recorded Books, 1999
• Miracle's Boys, Listening Library, 2001
• Locomotion, Recorded Books, 2003
• Show Way, Photographer Woods, 2012
• Brown Girl Dreaming, Penguin Audio, 2014
• If You Come Softly, Listening Library, 2018
• Harbor Me, Pay attention Library, 2018
• The Day You Begin, Listening Library, 2018
• Visiting Day, Sensing Library, 2018
• Before Her, part medium "The One" series, Brilliance Promulgating, 2019
• Red at the Bone, Penguin Audio, 2019

See also

References

External links