Jan. 6, 2022                        

   TULSA, Okla. --- New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the winner of the Tulsa Library Trust’s 2022 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature. She will accept the award at a free presentation on Friday, May 6, at 6 p.m. She also will present awards to winners of the 2022 Young People’s Creative Writing Contest. This event is scheduled to take place at Connor's Cove in Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. (unless social distancing is necessary).

   Grimes started writing poetry at age 6 and has since received over a dozen awards for her fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for elementary, middle-grade and young-adult readers. Her most recent awards include the 2020 ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young-adult literature, the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award and the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award.

   Grimes is a prolific writer whose work connects with a range of readers through a variety of genres. Whether fiction, poetry or nonfiction, there is a book or poem by Grimes for everyone. “I write about many different kinds of characters to show readers that we are more alike than we are different,” Grimes told TCCL. “I write stories to tell my readers that, no matter what obstacles life puts in their way, they have the capacity to survive, to thrive, to triumph over adversity.”

   Children’s fiction by Grimes includes ALA Notable Books “Come Sunday,” “What Is Goodbye?” and the 2018 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book “Garvey’s Choice”; the Danitra Brown series; the Dyamonde Daniel series; ALA Notable title “Southwest Sunrise”; and Kirkus Best Book “Bedtime for Sweet Creatures”; among others. Young-adult fiction includes novel in verse and Coretta Scott King Award winner “Bronx Masquerade”; its companion and YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults title “Between the Lines”; Coretta Scott King honor books “Words with Wings,” “Jazmine’s Notebook” and “Dark Sons”; and many more.

   Grimes’ nonfiction includes New York Times bestsellers “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” and IMAGE Award Nominee “Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice,” Coretta Scott King honor book “Talkin’ About Bessy: The Story of Aviator Bessie Coleman,” Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor “One Last Word” and its companion “Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance,” and Printz and Siebert Honor book “Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir.”

   The Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature gives formal recognition, on behalf of the Tulsa County community, to a nationally acclaimed author who has made a significant contribution to the field of literature for young adults. The award, presented by the Tulsa Library Trust, consists of a $10,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book.

   Past winners include: Jason Reynolds (2021), Katherine Applegate (2020), Rita Williams-Garcia (2019), Pam Munoz Ryan (2018), Laurie Halse Anderson (2017), Gordon Korman (2016), Sharon Draper (2015), Jack Gantos (2014), Jim Murphy (2013), Jacqueline Woodson (2012), Kathryn Lasky (2011), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (2010), Christopher Paul Curtis (2009), Louis Sachar (2008), Kate DiCamillo (2007), Sharon Creech (2006), Avi (2005), Susan Cooper (2004), Russell Freedman (2003), Richard Peck (2002), E.L. Konigsburg (2001), Jerry Spinelli (2000), Jane Yolen (1999), Cynthia Voigt (1998), Gary Paulsen (1997), Walter Dean Myers (1996), Lois Lowry (1994), Katherine Paterson (1993), Madeleine L’Engle (1992) and S.E. Hinton (1991).

   For more information on the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature or library programming, call the AskUs Hotline at 918-549-7323 or visit the library’s website, www.tulsalibrary.org.

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