Chesapeake Salutes Kwame Alexander During Council Meeting

CHESAPEAKE

The City of Chesapeake paid tribute to native son Kwame Alexander, a graduate of Great Bridge High School, during its October 27 city council meeting. Alexander, now a resident of Reston, Va., is a poet,  educator, and New York Bestselling author of 18 books, including THE  CROSSOVER, which received the 2015 John Newberry Medal for the  Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children. 

 He is the founder of Book-in-a-Day, a student-run publishing program that has  created more than 3000 student authors in 75 schools, and co-founder of LEAP for Ghana, an  international  literacy project that builds libraries, trains teachers and empowers children through literature. 

Alexander, who attended Virginia Tech, has owned several publishing companies,  written for stage and television (TLC’s “Hip Hop Harry”), produces jazz and book festivals, and  taught in a high school. In 2015, he served as Bank Street College of Education’s first writer-  in-residence. 

In addition to  the 2015 John Newberry Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children and the 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, Alexander also this year has been awarded the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize,  and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)  Charlotte Huck Honor Award.

He is the son of Dr. E. Curtis Alexander and Barbara Alexander of Chesapeake.

  Learn more about Alexander at kwamealexander.com