Award-winning author of children’s books, Kwame Alexander, will be in Springfield on Thursday, April 27, 2023 to give a workshop and a public talk.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times Bestselling author of 37 books, including AN AMERICAN STORY, THE DOOR OF NO RETURN, BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI (co-authored with James Patterson), REBOUND, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and THE UNDEFEATED, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award.

In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. In January 2023, a Kennedy Center-commissioned national tour for young audiences began for Alexander’s musical Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie: Starring Indigo Blume, which is based on two of his beloved children’s books – Acoustic Rooster and Indigo Blume.

He is the writer and executive producer of THE CROSSOVER TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premieres on Disney Channel and Disney+ in April 2023.

Plans for the Day, to be held at the Springfield Art Museum: 

(1) “The Write Thing” with Kwame Alexander Teacher Workshop – Event starts at
3:30 p.m.; Kwame Alexander’s presentation at 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. The presentation will reference Alexander’s book, The Write Thing, discussing ways teachers can incorporate poetry and free write
in their classrooms.

(2) Find your voice with New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Alexander. He will
present to the public from 7 p.m.-8 p.m., with a book-signing following the presentation.