As US Ambassador for Young People’s Literature 2020-22, Jason Reynolds encouraged many thousands of students to harness their voices by sharing their own narratives. A rockstar in the children’s literature world, he’s won nearly every award going including the CILIP Carnegie Medal, a Newbery Award, a Printz Award, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honours. Born in Washington, D.C., he found inspiration in rap and began writing poetry at 9 years old, publishing several collections before his first novel, When I Was The Greatest, in 2014. With a profound ability to connect through creativity, he urges everyone to express their lives in words and art, whatever form it takes – prose, poetry, song lyrics, comics, anything at all.

Supported by the Embassy of the United States of America.

AUCKLAND WRITERS FESTIVAL 2023, WAITUHI O TĀMAKI TUESDAY 16 MAY 2023 – 10.00-10.45AM KIRI TE KANAWA THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE