Kwame Alexander to Receive Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature
Telling a story in verse came naturally to Kwame Alexander. He says he has always written love poems, but after his daughter was born, he started writing poems for her. Young adults may be drawn to his book Crush: Love Poems, while children may love his picture books or his bestselling series, The Door of No Return. In fact, children through adults can find a Kwame Alexander book to love. He has written more than 40 books for children and adults.
Of course, fans of Alexander will know that he is a poet, and they may have seen the Disney+ series made from his Newbery and Coretta Scott King award-winning book The Crossover. So, add Emmy Award-winning producer to Alexander’s numerous talents and accolades. The show was produced in partnership with LeBron James’ Springhill Company and Alexander’s production company, Big Sea Entertainment.
The New York Times bestselling author will be in Tulsa in May to receive the Tulsa Library Trust’s 2025 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature. The presentation will be May 2, 2025, 6 p.m. at Hardesty Regional Library.
Writing The Crossover
As The Crossover enters its 10th anniversary, I asked Alexander about using poetry to tell a story about basketball and where he got the inspiration for the book.
“It wasn’t even my idea,” Alexander said. “It was the idea of an editor at a publishing house. She thought I had a really strong voice, and she said I should write a novel about basketball, using poetry to tell the story.”
Alexander said he decided to tackle the project.
“It was a matter of figuring out which types of poems to use,” he said. It wasn’t a quick process. The book was published “after five years and 22 rejections.”
Alexander said he was saddened by the rejections but he “knew that it was a really good book. All the folks who didn’t get it, just didn’t get it. I believed in myself.”
While some publishers may not have understood The Crossover, kids loved it. “A seventh grader in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told me he’d never read a book before, and he couldn’t put The Crossover down, so I went to the school and surprised him,” Alexander said. “The real reward is kids reading the book.”
Reading and paying attention
Alexander said he grew up around books because both of his parents were writers. As he began to seriously pursue his own writing career, Alexander said poet Nikki Giovanni became a close mentor.
“Reading books was my breathing,” he said. “I read a lot of poetry growing up, and I went to the library every Saturday.”
Alexander said his family also took a lot of road trips and he paid attention to everything, figuring out where they were and how they got there. The habit of noticing details may have contributed to Alexander’s prolific writing.
“I never run out of ideas,” he said. “Ideas may come from other people. I walk around and I pay attention in life.”
When asked about why people respond to poetry, Alexander said, “I think it’s important for everyone to read poetry. It distills the human heart and allows us to feel something. If you want to change the way someone acts, change the way they feel. Poetry is immediate, emotional language.”
Because of their honest, real language, several of Alexander’s books have been banned, including the bestselling The Undefeated.
“It’s wrong to tell my kid that they can’t read a book,” he said. “Other people shouldn’t tell me what my kids can or can’t read.”
Alexander said that he made sure that his children were exposed to many different people, books, experiences and cultures. Books are one way to expose children to others and to also help them understand themselves. Censoring or banning books limits that understanding.
“If you want to create kids that become empathetic, connected adults, you have to start as children to show them what’s possible and who their neighbors are,” he said. “The mind of the adult begins in the imagination of the child.”
Meet Author Kwame Alexander
Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature
Friday, May 2, 6 p.m.
Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St., Tulsa
Alexander will speak about his life, his writing process, and his works and help present awards to winners of the 2025 Young People’s Creative Writing Contest.
