Zetta Elliott (born October 26, 1972) is a Canadian-American poet, playwright, and author. Her first picture book ''

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

'', won many awards. She has also been recognized for other contributions to

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, as well as for her essays, plays, and young adult novels.

Life

Elliott was born in

Ajax, Ontario Ajax (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population: 126,666) is a waterfront town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for , a Royal N ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, on October 26, 1972. She has lived in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for most of her adult life, having moved to Brooklyn in 1994 to begin as a student at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(NYU). More recently, she moved to Philadelphia. She holds a PhD in American studies from NYU and has worked as a professor at several colleges.

Writing

Elliott's works include recovering from urban violence and other challenging issues of modern life, which she addresses partly to help her fellow black people feel seen. Elliott's first professional publication was the children's picture book ''Bird'', in 2008. Illustrator Shadra Strickland won the

Ezra Jack Keats Book Award The Ezra Jack Keats Book Award is an annual U.S. literary award. At the Ezra Jack Keats Book Awards Ceremony every April, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation presents the New Writer Award (since 1985) and New Illustrator Award (since 2001) to an aut ...

in 2009 for New Illustrator for the book. ''Bird'' also won the New Voices Award Honor from its publishing company,

Lee & Low Books Lee & Low Books is an independent children's book publisher focusing on diversity. History Lee & Low was founded in 1991 by Chinese Americans Tom Low and Philip Lee as a children's book publisher specializing in books featuring people of color a ...

, as well as the 2009 Paterson Prize for Book for Young Readers, and the 2011 West Virginia Children's Choice Book Award. Elliott wrote ''Bird'' originally as a short story in 2006, but only found a publisher for it after she and Strickland re-worked it to be a picture book. Elliott's first YA novels, ''A Wish After Midnight'' and its sequel, ''The Door at the Crossroads'', are speculative fiction featuring a black teenager from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, NY, who travels back in time to the Brooklyn of 1863. ''A Wish After Midnight'' was originally self-published in 2008, then re-released by Amazon Encore in 2010. ''The Door at the Crossroads'' was released in 2016. The City Books series is aimed at much younger readers, ages 6 (kindergarten) to 10 (4th grade). The series began in 2014 with ''The Phoenix on Barkley Street'', then continued with ''Dayshaun's Gift'' in 2015. Like ''A Wish After Midnight'', ''Dayshaun's Gift'' involves sending the protagonist back to 1863, at the time of the New York City draft riots. The story is illustrated by Alex Portal. Elliott released City Books #3: ''The Ghosts in the Castle'' in 2017, along with City Books #4: ''The Phantom Unicorn''. Both are illustrated by Charity Russell. 2015 featured the beginning of Elliott's collaboration with artist and illustrator Purple Wong, who illustrated Elliot's poem ''I Love Snow!'' as a children's picture book that year. In 2016 they released ''A Hand to Hold'' in February, ''Billie's Blues'' (also illustrated by Paul Melecky) in February, and ''Milo's Museum'' in November. The poetic picture book about autism ''Benny Doesn't Like to Be Hugged'' followed in 2017, and ''On My Block'', also a poem, in 2020. Reflecting Elliott's activism in encouraging diverse representations in books, a background character in ''Benny Doesn't Like to Be Hugged'' is a Native American boy wearing a t-shirt featuring the comic book character Super Indian, a Native super hero created by Arigon Starr. In 2016, Tilbury House Publishers put out ''Melena's Jubilee: the story of a fresh start'', illustrated with

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes work of art, artwork in which more than one Art medium, medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different List of art media, media. M ...

artwork by Aaron Boyd. It was listed as a Bank Street College of Education 2016 Best Children's Book of the Year with a star for outstanding merit, and was also named a 2017 Skipping Stones Honor Book by the international multicultural magazine ''Skipping Stones'', in publication since 1988. 2017's YA Novel, ''Mother of the Sea'' was published by Elliott's own

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

, Rosetta Press, as were many of her titles for children. The first book in Elliott's urban fantasy series for middle grade children, ''Dragons in a Bag'', was one of Amazon's picks for Amazon Best Children's Book of the Year in 2018. The second book in the series is called ''The Dragon Thief''. Both were published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

and illustrated by Geneva B. Elliot's answer to the question "In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?" was published in 2018's ''We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices'', as the poem "You Too Can Fly", illustrated by Laura Freedman. The anthology featured poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works by 50 luminaries of the field, including

Jacqueline Woodson Jacqueline Woodson (born February 12, 1963) is an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for '' Miracle's Boys'', and her Newbery Honor-winning titles '' Brown Girl Dreaming'', '' After Tupac and D Foster'', ''F ...

and

Kwame Alexander Kwame Alexander (born August 21, 1968) is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction. Personal life and education Alexander was born in Manhattan, New York, and grew up in Virginia. His father was a scholar and book publisher and hi ...

. It was recognized by both ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' and ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' as a Best Book of 2018. In the poem, Elliott tells readers: She is a contributor to

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

's anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora ...

'' (2019). Also in 2019, Elliot published a book about writing, ''Find Your Voice: A Guide to Self-Expression'', Her poetry collection ''Say Her Name (Poems to Empower)'' was published by

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

Books for Young Readers in 2020. The collection includes 49 poems, four of which are tributes to other authors: Lucille Clifton,

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

, and

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784), was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates Jr., Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: ...

. The cover and illustrations are by Loveis Wise. A second collection, called ''American Phoenix'', was published independently later the same year, containing 40 poems. In 2020, Elliott published a children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

about

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

and the Black Lives Matter protests, titled '' A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart'' which (with illustrator Noa Denmon) won a 2021

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

. The story focuses on a young Black boy's experience of a Black woman's killing by police officers in his town. In 2021, the book was challenged by a parent in a

Cold Harbor The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Army, Union Lieuten ...

, Virginia school, with a county supervisor calling the book "garbage" and another characterizing it as political and offensive. After a review, the school board vote to keep the book in its collection. Elliott described the effort as part of wider attempt by conservatives to censor perspectives of marginalized groups.

Bibliography

Children's books

* ''

'' (2008), illustrated by Shadra Strickland * ''The Last Bunny in Brooklyn'' (2014), illustrated by Babs Webb * ''Fox & Crow: A Christmas Tale'' (2014), illustrated by Babs Webb * ''The Magic Mirror'' (2014) * ''The Girl Who Swallowed the Sun'' (2014), illustrated by Bek Millhouse * City Books ** City Books 1: ''The Phoenix on Barkley Street'' (2014). Pictures by Enroc Illustration ** City Books 2: ''Dayshaun's Gift'' (2015), illustrated by Alex Portal ** City Books 3: ''The Ghosts in the Castle'' (2017), illustrated by Charity Russell ** City Books 4: ''The Phantom Unicorn'' (2017), illustrated by Charity Russell * ''A Wave Came Through Our Window'' (2015), illustrated by Charity Russell * ''I Love Snow!'' (2015), illustrated by Purple Wong * ''A Hand to Hold'' (2016), illustrated by Purple Wong * ''Billie's Blues'' (2016), illustrated by Paul Melecky and Purple Wong * ''Milo's Museum'' (2016), illustrated by Purple Wong * Dragons in a Bag ** ''Dragons in a Bag'' (2018), illustrated by Geneva B ** ''The Dragon Thief'' (2019), illustrated by Geneva B ** ''The Witch's Apprentice'' (2022), illustrated by Cherise Harris * ''On My Block'' (2020), illustrated by Purple Wong * '' A Place Inside of Me'' (2020), illustrated by Noa Denmon

Young Adult (YA)

* ''A Wish After Midnight'' (2008) * ''Ship of Souls'' (2012) * ''The Deep'' (2013) * ''The Door at the Crossroads'' (2016) * ''Mother of the Sea'' (2017) * ''The Return'' (2018) * ''Cin's Mark'' (2018)

Adult fiction

* ''One Eye Open'' (2011)

Poetry

* "You Can Fly", in ''We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices'' (2018), edited by Wade and Cheryl Hudson * ''Say Her Name (Poems to Empower)'' (2020), illustrated by Loveis Wise * ''American Phoenix (Poems)'' (2020)

Mixed Media

* ''Stranger In The Family'' (2009; a memoir in photography, poetry, and prose)

Awards

* 2005: ''Bird'' (published in 2008) – New Voices Award Honor, Lee & Low Books; Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for New Illustrator; 2009 Paterson Prize for Book for Young Readers * 2012: ''Ship of Souls'' – Booklist's Top Ten Sci-fi/Fantasy Titles for Youth; finalist for the

Book Award * 2018: ''Dragon in a Bag'' – Amazon Best Children's Book of the Year selection

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Zetta Living people 1972 births 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers African-American children's writers African-American dramatists and playwrights African-American novelists African-American poets American feminist writers American women dramatists and playwrights American women essayists American women novelists American women poets Speculative fiction writers of African descent New York University alumni American women science fiction and fantasy writers American children's poets Canadian women science fiction and fantasy writers