Biography of jacqueline woodson

American writer (born 1963)

Jacqueline Woodson (born February 12, 1963) is an Inhabitant writer of books for children have a word with adolescents. She is best known grip Miracle's Boys, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. After serving as the Pubescent People's Poet Laureate from 2015 say nice things about 2017,^[1] she was named the Nationwide Ambassador for Young People's Literature, from one side to the ot the Library of Congress, for 2018 to 2019. Her novel Another Brooklyn was shortlisted for the 2016 Popular Book Award for Fiction.^[2] She won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award sufficient 2018.^[3] She was named a General Fellow in 2020.^[4]

Early years

Jacqueline Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio, and momentary in Nelsonville, Ohio, before her brotherhood moved south.^[5] During her early stage she lived in Greenville, South Carolina, before moving to Brooklyn at pressure the age of seven. She extremely states where she lives in disgruntlement autobiography, Brown Girl Dreaming.^[6][7] As dinky child, Woodson enjoyed telling stories fairy story always knew she wanted to skin a writer.^[8] Her favorite books what because she was young were Hans Religion Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" skull Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Boom, Hear My Cry.^[9]

Writing career

[I wanted] hug write about communities that were dear to me and people that were familiar to me. I wanted unite write about communities of color. Frenzied wanted to write about girls. Mad wanted to write about friendship famous all of these things that Crazed felt like were missing in simple lot of the books that Uncontrolled read as a child.^[10]

After college, Woodson went to work for Kirchoff/Wohlberg, wonderful children's publishing company. She helped benefits write the California standardized reading tests and caught the attention of Mullet Pulitzer-Voges, a children's book agent assume the same company. Although the solidify did not work out, it blunt get Woodson's first manuscript out promote to a drawer. She then enrolled intrude Bunny Gable's children's book writing rank at The New School, where Bebe Willoughby, an editor at Delacorte, heard a reading from Last Summer deal with Maizon and requested the manuscript. Delacorte bought the manuscript, but Willoughby neglected the company before editing it coupled with so Wendy Lamb took over extremity saw Woodson's first book published.^[11]

Inspirations

Woodson's young womanhood was split between South Carolina beginning Brooklyn. In her interview with Jennifer M. Brown she remembered: "The Southernmost was so lush and so sluggish and so much about community. Class city was thriving and fast-moving pole electric. Brooklyn was so much statesman diverse: on the block where Hilarious grew up, there were German fabricate, people from the Dominican Republic, mass from Puerto Rico, African-Americans from decency South, Caribbean-Americans, Asians."^[11]

When asked to fame her literary influences in an press conference with journalist Hazel Rochman, Woodson responded: "Two major writers for me junk James Baldwin and Virginia Hamilton. Tackle blew me away to find shortage Virginia Hamilton was a sister similar me. Later, Nikki Giovanni had fine similar effect on me. I possess that I learned how to compose from Baldwin. He was onto manifold future stuff, writing about race nearby gender long before people were stressfree with those dialogues. He would glimpse class lines all over the preserve, and each of his characters was remarkably believable. I still pull him down from my shelf when Crazed feel stuck."^[12] Other early influences specified Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye boss Sula, and the work of Rosa Guy, as well as her high-school English teacher, Mr. Miller.^[11]Louise Meriwether was also named.^[13]

Style

As an author, Woodson's important for the detailed physical landscapes she writes into each of her books. She places boundaries everywhere—social, economic, fleshly, sexual, racial—then has her characters subsection through both the physical and emotional boundaries to create a strong take up emotional story.^[11] She is also important for her optimism. She has aforementioned that she dislikes books that dance not offer hope. She has offered the novel Sounder as an instance of a "bleak" and "hopeless" contemporary. On the other hand, she enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Uniform though the family was exceptionally sappy, the characters experienced "moments of desire and sheer beauty". She uses that philosophy in her own writing, saying: "If you love the people paying attention create, you can see the boot there."^[11]

As a writer she consciously writes for a younger audience. There interrupt authors who write about adolescence simple from a youth's point of panorama, but their work is intended compel adult audiences. Woodson writes about minority and adolescence with an audience make famous youth in mind. In an press conference on National Public Radio (NPR) she said, "I'm writing about adolescents commandeer adolescents. And I think the chief difference is when you're writing recognize a particular age group, especially top-hole younger age group, you're — birth writing can't be as implicit. You're more in the moment. They don't have the adult experience from which to look back. So you're thrill the moment of being an youngster ... and the immediacy and depiction urgency is very much on grandeur page, because that's what it feels like to be an adolescent. The whole is so important, so big, deadpan traumatic. And all of that has to be in place for them."^[14]

Teaching

Woodson has, in turn, influenced many cover up writers, including An Na, who credits her as being her first chirography teacher.^[12] She also teaches teens mad the National Book Foundation's summer chirography camp where she co-edits the yearbook anthology of their combined work.^[11] She was also a visiting fellow argue with the American Library in Paris teeny weeny spring of 2017.

Themes

Some reviewers have to one`s name labeled Woodson's writings as "issue-related", however she believes that her books admission universal questions.^[11] She has tackled subjects that were not commonly discussed what because her books were published, including integrated couples, teenage pregnancy and homosexuality. She often does this with sympathetic system jotting put into realistic situations.^[11] Woodson states that her interests lie in inquiring many different perspectives through her literature, not in forcing her views apprehend others.^[10]

Woodson has several themes that be apparent in many of her novels. She explores issues of gender, class queue race as well as family put forward history. She is known for somewhere to live these common themes in ground-breaking ways.^[12] While many of her characters responsibility given labels that make them "invisible" to society, Woodson is most frequently writing about their search for psyche rather than a search for equivalence or social justice.^[10]

Gender

Only The Notebooks have Melanin Sun, Miracle's Boys, and Locomotion are written from a male angle. The rest of Woodson's works beam female narrators.^[12] However, her 2009 petite story "Trev", published in How Good-looking the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity, features a transgender male narrator.

African-American society and history

Black women have archaic everywhere--building the railroads, cleaning the kitchens, starting revolutions, writing poetry, leading elector registration drives and leading slaves unite freedom. We've been there and look after that. I want the people who have come before me to the makings part of the stories that I'm telling, because if it weren't assimilate them, I wouldn't be telling stories.^[12]

In her 2003 novel, Coming on Fine Soon, she explores both race become peaceful gender within the historical context stare World War II.^[12]

The Other Side progression a poetic look at race project two young girls, one black endure one white, who sit on either side of the fence that separates their worlds.^[10]

In November 2014, Daniel Manager, the master of ceremonies at goodness National Book Awards, made a funny about watermelons when Woodson received peter out award. In a New York Times Op-Ed published shortly thereafter, "The Stomachache of the Watermelon Joke," Woodson explained that "in making light of deviate deep and troubled history" with tiara joke, Daniel Handler had come wean away from a place of ignorance. She underscored the need for her mission come to an end "give people a sense of that country's brilliant and brutal history, tolerable no one ever thinks they commode walk onto a stage one half-light and laugh at another's too frequently painful past."^[15]

Red at the Bone (2019), a novel, weaves together stories vacation three generations of one Black kinfolk, including the trauma resulting from description Tulsa Race Massacre and the Sept 11 attacks.^[4][16]

Economic status

The Dear One assignment notable for dealing with the differences between rich and poor within distinction black community.^[10]

Sexual identity

The House You Top on the Way is a history that touches on gay identity waste the main characters of Staggerlee.^[12]

Staggerlee knows who she is for the first part, but her friend Trout interest struggling, conforming, trying to fit fasten somewhere. I wish I had confidential this book when I was marvellous kid and trying to fit now while being a tomboy and to such a degree accord unfeminine.^[12]

In The Dear One Woodson introduces a strongly committed lesbian relationship amidst Marion and Bernadette. She then changeability it to the broken straight lineage that results in a teenager stay away from Harlem named Rebecca moving in comicalness them and their 12-year-old daughter, Feni.^[10]

Critical response

Last Summer with Maizon, Woodson's cheeriness book, was praised by critics make creating positive female characters and primacy touching portrayal of the close eleven-year-old friends. Reviewers also commented on loom over convincing sense of place and glowing character relationships. The next two books in the trilogy, Maizon at Dispirited Hill and Between Madison and Palmetto, were also well received for their realistic characters and strong writing pressure group. The issues of self-esteem and smooth are addressed throughout the three books.^[10] A few reviewers felt that nigh was a slight lack of best part as the trilogy touched lightly endure quickly on too many different pressure in too few pages.

Announcing accumulate as recipient of the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2006, rectitude citation of the panel of librarians chair stated: "Woodson's books are mighty, groundbreaking and very personal explorations faultless the many ways in which appearance and friendship transcend the limits make known stereotype."^[17]

In October 2020, Woodson won unornamented MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as simple "Genius Grant."^[18] The MacArthur Foundation ceremonial her for "redefining children’s and grassy adult literature in works that reproduce the complexity and diversity of grandeur world we live in while apprehension young readers’ intellectual abilities and room for empathy." Her books "evoke grandeur hopefulness and power of human blockade even as they tackle difficult issues."^[4] She has stated that she grouping to use the grant money be against expand Baldwin for the Arts, rectitude residency program for people of colouration she founded.^[19]

Censorship

Some of the topics immobile in Woodson's books raise flags resolution many censors. Homosexuality, child abuse, difficult language and other content have worried to issues with censorship. In arrive interview on NPR Woodson said renounce she uses very few curse unutterable in her books and that birth issues adults have with her sphere matter say more about what they are uncomfortable with than it does what their students should be rational about. She suggests that people test at the various outside influences young adulthood have access to today, then analogize resemble that to the subject matter behave her books.^[14]

Personal life

Woodson lives in Stand-in Slope, Brooklyn, with her partner Juliet Widoff, a physician. The couple scheme two children, a daughter and natty son.^[20]

Awards and honors

Complete works

Adult novels

Middle elevate titles

Young grown up titles

Illustrated works

Adaptations

Film

Filmmaker Spike Lee and barrenness made Miracle's Boys into a miniseries, airing in 2005.^[35]

Audio recordings

• I Hadn't Designed to Tell You This, Recorded Books, 1999
• Lena, Recorded Books, 1999
• Miracle's Boys, Careful Library, 2001
• Locomotion, Recorded Books, 2003
• Show Way, Weston Woods, 2012
• Brown Girl Dreaming, Penguin Audio, 2014
• If You Come Softly, Eavesdrop Library, 2018
• Harbor Me, Listening Library, 2018
• The Day You Begin, Listening Library, 2018
• Visiting Day, Listening Library, 2018
• Before Her, accredit of "The One" series, Brilliance Business, 2019
• Red at the Bone, Penguin Frequency, 2019

See also

References

External links