Julius Lester was a celebrated author whose accolades include a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award. He was also a National Book Award finalist, a National Book Critics Circle nominee, and a recipient of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In addition to his critically acclaimed writing career, Mr. Lester distinguished himself as a civil rights activist, musician, photographer, radio talk-show host, and professor. For 32 years he taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Jerry Pinkney was one of America’s most acclaimed illustrators. He won the Caldecott Medal, five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. His long list of celebrated titles includes Mirandy and Brother Wind, The Little Red Hen, The Little Match Girl, and The Lion & The Mouse. His family includes a number of acclaimed children's book creators: his son, artist Brian Pinkney; his daughter-in-law, author and children's book editor Andrea Davis Pinkney; and his granddaughter, author-illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow.