Listen to our first ever LIVE episode of the Black Creators Series podcast. You can listen straight from our ALA Annual panel, featuring four legendary children's book creators in discussion with Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, best-selling author, founder of Red Clay Educators, and cofounder of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy.

Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, the Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award–winning illustrator of We Could Fly, written by Rhiannon Giddens.

Carole Boston Weatherford, recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King Author Honors, including most recently for her beautiful picture book How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee, illustrated by Frank Morrison.

Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome, the talented and award-winning team behind the upcoming picture book They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom. Lesa Cline-Ransome is the recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor while James E. Ransome is the 2023 winner of the Children's Literature Legacy Award.

Early childhood educator Jamel C. Campbell addresses a common fear that children all over the world experience at the start of a new school year in his debut picture book, Olu's Teacher. This sweet, reassuring story is paired with the gentle, welcoming illustrations of Lydia Mba. Listen in as he talks with Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, New York Times best-selling author and founder of Red Clay Educators, about his work and the profound and inspiring ways it can be used in classrooms.

Arlène Elizabeth Casimir is an educator, consultant, healer, herbalist, and writer. Her debut picture book, Back Home: Story Time with My Father, illustrated in lush, enchanting colors by artist Ken Daley, is a love letter to her parents' birthplace and to the ways storytelling can bring us together. Listen in as she talks with Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, New York Times best-selling author and founder of Red Clay Educators, about her work and the profound and inspiring ways it can be used in classrooms.