Kwame Mbalia Author

Kwame Mbalia (Author)
Kwame Mbalia is a husband, father, and
New York Times best-selling author of the Tristan
Strong series, for which he received a Coretta
Scott King Author Honor award for Tristan Strong
Punches a Hole in the Sky. Kwame also cowrote Last
Gate of the Emperor with Prince Joel Makonnen and
edited the instant New York Times best seller Black
Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood. Kwame
lives with his wife and children near Raleigh,
North Carolina, where he is currently working on
several projects-including a new middle grade
series-and cultivating cutting-edge dad jokes.
?www.KwameMbalia.com

Nikkolas Smith (Illustrator)
Nikkolas Smith is an Artivist, picture
book author, and Hollywood film illustrator. He
is the author-illustrator of The Artivist, The Golden
Girls of Rio, and My Hair Is Poofy & That's Okay. He
also illustrated I Am Ruby Bridges, Black Panther:
Wakanda Forever: The Courage to Dream, That Flag,
and the New York Times best-selling The 1619
Project: Born on the Water. Many of Nikkolas's viral
and globally published sketches are included in his
book Sunday Sketch: The Art of Nikkolas. Nikkolas
speaks on his Artivism and leads digital painting
workshops around the world. Born in Houston,
Texas, Nikkolas lives in Los Angeles, California.
www.NIKKOLAS.art