Celebrating poetry month: Jacqueline Woodson
Since her debut in 1990, Jacqueline Woodson has won countless awards for her picture books, prose novels and verse novels for young people, as well as for her books for adults. Her National Book Award Winning memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming, struggles of growing up African American and is . Locomotion, another verse novel, delves into grief after the loss of one’s parents. Before the Ever After, her most recent verse novel, addresses the issue of football players who sustain concussions. Other works also explore the nuances of LGBTQ+ identity and economic disparities.
In addition to the National Book Award, her long list of awards and honors includes Newbery Honor winning titles, New York Times Bestsellers and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. She has served as the Young People’s Poet Laureate and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2020. Her work has won legendary recognition.
- Avalon Felice Lee
Photo credit: Carlos Diaz
Samples of Poetry
Poetry Foundation, 2003
Group Home Before Miss Edna's House
Poetry Foundation, 2003
Poetry Foundation, 2003
Poetry Foundation, 2003
Poetry Foundation, 2014
Poetry Foundation, 2014
Poetry Foundation, 2014
Poetry Foundation, 2014
Poetry Foundation, 2014
Poetry Foundation, 2014
American Poets, 2020
Interviews & Essays
Jacqueline Woodson, The Horn Book Inc., 1998
Interview: Jacqueline Woodson: Poetry in Motion
Heidi Henneman, BookPage, 2003
How Do I Come Home Again? — The Zena Sutherland Lecture
Jacqueline Woodson, The Horn Book Inc., 2007
Dream Keepers: 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Award Acceptance
Jacqueline Woodson, The Horn Book Inc., 2015
Jacqueline Woodson On Growing Up, Coming Out And Saying Hi To Strangers
David Bianchulli, KQED, 2015
Brown Girl Dreaming: Author Jacqueline Woodson’s 2015 BGHB NF Honor Speech
Jacqueline Woodson The Horn Book Inc., 2016
Jacqueline Woodson's 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award Acceptance
Jacqueline Woodson, The Horn Book Inc., 2018
Jacqueline Woodson Transformed Children’s Literature. Now She’s Writing for Herself.
Kat Cho, The New York Times, 2019
Jacqueline Woodson: ‘It’s important to know that whatever moment we’re in, it's not the first time'
Jonathan Scutts, The Guardian, 2020
How Author Jacqueline Woodson Gets It Done
Hannah Gold, The Cut, 2021
Books of poetry and verse novels/memoirs/collections for young people
Locomotion (2003)
ALSC Notable Children's Books, 2004
Book Links: Lasting Connections, 2003
Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards: Honor, 2003
CCBC Choices, 2004
Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Author Honor, 2004
Horn Book Fanfare, 2003
National Book Award for Young People's Literature: Finalist, 2003
Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Award, 2004
William Allen White Children’s Book Award Nominee, 2004
Brown Girl Dreaming (2014)
ALSC Notable Children's Books, 2015
ALSC Notable Children's Recordings, 2015
Book Links: Lasting Connections, 2015
Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards: Honor, 2015
CCBC Choices, 2015
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books, 2014
Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry, 2015
Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Author Winner, 2015
E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, 2015
Horn Book Fanfare, 2014
John Newbery Medal: Honor, 2015
Junior Library Guild Selections: Middle Selection, 2014
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work In YA Fiction, 2015
National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2014
Notable Books for a Global Society, 2015
Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Award, 2015
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal: Honor, 2015
SLJ Best Books of the Year, 2014
Before the Ever After (2020)
ALSC Notable Children's Books, 2021
CCBC Choices, 2021
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books, 2020
Coretta Scott King Book Awards: Author Winner, 2021
NCTE Notable Poetry and Verse Novels, 2021
Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Award, 2021
Examples of Recognition
Margaret A. Edwards Award 2006
St. Katharine Drexel Award 2010
Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature, 2012
MacArthur Fellows Program Grant Award: U.S. Nominee, 2014
Langston Hughes Medal, 2015
Poetry Foundation: Young People’s Poet Laureate, 2015
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Laureate, 2018
Children’s Literature Legacy Award, 2018
National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, 2018-2019
Han Christian Andersen Award, 2020
MacArthur Fellows Program Grant Award, 2020
