Chris Crutcher
Author of eleven novels for young adults, Chris Crutcher was a teacher and a family therapist before beginning his writing career. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Crutcher spent most of his growing up years in Cascade, Idaho. His debut novel, Running Loose, features a successful high school senior whose life threw him for a few loops. This theme resonates in most of his writing. Most of his protagonists are male, teenage athletes, and his novels feature teens coping with serious problems, including abusive parents, racial and religious prejudice, mental and physical disability, and poverty. His signature blend of tragedy and comedy make him a favorite with teen readers. Crutcher has also written an autobiography, King of the Mild Frontier, and Athletic Shorts, an anthology of six YA short stories. One story from that collection, "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune," was made into a film called Angus. Eight of his books have been selected as the American Library Association’s "Best Books for Young Adults." Widely recognized as an advocate for teens, Crutcher was awarded the Intellectual Freedom Award from the National Coalition Against Censorship in 2005 and the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution to young adult literature. His latest novel, Period 8, will be out in early 2013. Chris Crutcher makes his home in Spokane, Washington. http://www.chriscrutcher.com/ Kadir Nelson
Kadir Nelson is a critically acclaimed artist and author/illustrator whose works have been exhibited in major national and international publications, institutions, art galleries, and museums. Nelson was born in Washington D.C., and began drawing around the age of three. At age eleven, he was apprenticed by his uncle, an artist and art teacher. Later he entered his paintings in art competitions and ultimately won an art scholarship to study at Pratt Institute. Nelson has received many awards for his children's books, including the Coretta Scott King Award for Heart and Soul, the Sibert Medal and Coretta Scott King Award for We Are the Ship, a Caldecott Honor for Henry’s Freedom Box, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Ellington Was Not a Street, and the NAACP Image Award for Just the Two of Us. He has created paintings for a host of distinguished clients including Sports Illustrated, The Coca-Cola Company, The United States Postal Service, Major League Baseball, and Dreamworks SKG where he worked as a visual development artist creating concept artwork for feature films, “Amistad”, and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”. Nelson’s cover artwork is featured on the album “MICHAEL”, by the late pop singer icon Michael Jackson, Jackson’s first posthumous album release. His recent book, I Have A Dream, illustrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s seminal speech, was published in the fall of 2012. Kadir Nelson lives in San Diego, California with his wife and two daughters. www.kadirnelson.com Laura Vaccaro Seeger ![]() Deborah Wiles |