1. Patricia C McKissack was a prolific African-American children's writer.
17 Facts About Patricia McKissack
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Patricia McKissack was the author of more than 100 books, including Dear America books A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl; Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North; and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl.
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Patricia McKissack wrote a novel for The Royal Diaries series: Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba.
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Patricia McKissack was a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
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Patricia McKissack published under the names L'Ann Carwell, Pat McKissack, and Patricia C McKissack.
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Patricia McKissack L'Ann Carwell was born to parents Robert and Erma Carwell on August 9,1944, in Smyrna, Tennessee.
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Patricia McKissack was inspired to be a writer by her mother, who liked to read her the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, and by her grandparents who told her many stories.
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The library was one of the few places in downtown Nashville that was not segregated, so it became a place where Patricia McKissack always felt welcome and where she learned her love for reading.
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Patricia McKissack graduated with an English degree in 1964, while Fredrick obtained a civil engineering degree.
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Patricia McKissack then became a junior high-school English teacher, but in 1971 realized that she wanted to be an author.
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Patricia and Fredrick McKissack worked and published more than 100 books together over the course of 20 years.
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Patricia McKissack continued writing on her own, but died of cardio-respiratory arrest on April 7,2017, at the age of 72.
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Patricia McKissack's family moved to St Louis, where she started a writing service.
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Fredrick was the researcher of the pair, while Patricia McKissack mostly wrote up the research.
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Patricia McKissack went on to write many more biographies, some with Fredrick and some by herself, about prominent African American figures, including Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Sojourner Truth.
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Patricia McKissack wrote mostly non-fiction and focused on issues such as racism and African American history.
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Beside the three Coretta Scott King Award winners listed here, six other books by Patricia McKissack were runners-up or Coretta Scott King Honor Books.