Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice

Jason Reynolds is an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Jason’s many books include Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Correta Scott King Honor, and Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Jason is the 2020-2021 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Olivia Gatwood’s poetry books include Woke, Life of the Party, and New American Best Friend. She also leads writing workshops and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Theodore Taylor III is an artist, a designer, photographer and illustrated When the Beat Was Born. Historically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out. Featuring the writing of Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, and art by Theodore Taylor, Woke: A Young Poet’s Guide to Justice (Roaring Brook Press) is a collection of poems to inspire kids to create their own art and poems to express how they see justice and injustice and become a new generation of activists. Kirkus, in a Starred Review, stated simply: “Read it; gift it; use it to challenge, protect, and grow.”

Mahogany L. Browne is a writer, organizer, and educator. She is the Interim Executive Director of Urban Word NYC & Poetry Coordinator at St. Francis College. Browne has received fellowships from Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of Chlorine Sky (2021), Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice (2020), Black Girl Magic (2020), Woke Baby (2018), and Kissing Caskets (2017). Browne is also the founder of Woke Baby Book Fair (a nationwide diversity literature campaign); and as an Arts for Justice grantee, is completing her first book of essays on mass incarceration, investigating its impact on women and children. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times bestselling author of With the Fire on High and National Book Award-winning novel The Poet X. She is a National Poetry Slam champion. In Clap When You Land (Quill Tree Books) a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, she arrives at the airport to see crowds of people crying. In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews noted that Clap When You Land “Tackles family secrets, toxic masculinity, and socio-economic differences with incisive clarity and candor… Every line is laced with betrayal and longing as the teens struggle with loving someone despite his imperfections. A standing ovation.”