About Me

To start with, I’m honored to have won the 2025 Many Voices contest hosted by SCBWI-Illinois for my picture book manuscript ESCAPE FROM THE COTTON FIELDS. It goes without saying how grateful I am to SCBWI for all it has given me over the years. https://youtu.be/ZKoJZs6YQGk?feature=shared

I grew up on the Southside of Chicago in Hyde Park, a neighborhood known for its diversity and progressive mindset. My father ran a drug store on the corner of 47th and Ellis Street. While he spent his day as a pharmacist, he transformed into a musician at night. His jazz band played at nightclubs, hotels and restaurants all over Chicago. A tenor saxophonist, he sometimes played with jazz greats such as Elvin Jones and Sonny Stitt.

My mother was primarily a housewife when I was little. But she also had a strong passion. She loved to write. At night, I would hear her typing away in her bedroom. She wrote several novels, which were never published, and many nonfiction travel articles that were published in local newspapers. She loved to travel. In later years, she traveled to places such as Angkor Wat, Easter Island, Egypt, Myanmar, Uganda and Kenya. She spent the last 20 years of her life living in a small town in Mexico where she painted and wrote short stories. 

My father was Black and my mother was White. Today, that doesn’t seem so unusual. But growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, it was. Fortunately, I lived in a community where my siblings and I were accepted for the most part. But while few people openly expressed their prejudices, racism still created boundaries and borders between people. I was often confused by people’s attitudes toward me. Some members of my family tolerated me, while others accepted me with open arms. 

As a child, I was an avid reader. I looked to books to help me understand my situation from a big picture perspective. But few books existed at that time in which I could see myself. I am so grateful to see all the diversity on display in children’s books of today. I would like all children to be able to see themselves, their struggles, their joys, in books. That’s why I became an author.