Kwame Alexander, the 2018 Karla Harry Visiting Author

Kwame Alexander will be at Gordon Tuesday, November 27th, as the twelfth annual Karla Harry Visiting Author. He will present to students in Kindergarten to eighth grade, accompanied by musician Randy Preston.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight books, including Swing, Solo and Rebound, the follow-up to his Newbery medal-winning middle grade novel, The Crossover. Some of his other works include Booked, a National Book Award nominee, as well as The Playbook: 52 Rules to Help You Aim, Shoot and Score in this Game of Life, and the picture books Out of Wonder, Surf’s Up, and The Undefeated.

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Alexander is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Prize, three NAACP Image Award nominations, and the inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award in 2017. The 2018 NEA Read Across America Ambassador, Alexander is the founder of Versify, a publishing subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the host and producer of the literary variety/talk show, Bookish, which airs on Facebook Watch.

The Karla Harry Visiting Author program is held in memory of a beloved Gordon librarian, administrator and parent. The program provides Gordon students the unique experience of 1delving into the writer’s craft by working with nationally recognized authors and illustrators. It is supported by the Karla Harry Visiting Author Fund, which was established in 2006.

The residency coincides with the annual GCA Book Fair, and Alexander will be signing books at the fair on Tuesday from 2pm to 2:55pm.