Shadra Strickland

Shadra Strickland studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University, and completed her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her work in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Shadra is passionate about promoting positivity through her work, and her ultimate goal as a picture book author and illustrator is to teach children how to live their dreams. Her style is a whimsical blend of reality and imagination, and she loves to create stories that children can see themselves in. Shadra travels the country conducting workshops and sharing her work with children, teachers, and librarians. She currently teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

1. What inspired you all to write a children's book?

My mother was an English teacher so I grew up reading and writing my own stories. I’ve been illustrating books since 2008. Jump In! Is the first one that I have written and illustrated.

2. If you could tell yourself one affirmation as a kid, what would it be?

You are worthy of all the goodness life has to offer.

3. What's next for you as an author?

I am in the process of selling my next two picturebook manuscripts with Bloomsbury and am talking myself into writing some middle-grade fiction.

Learn more and purchase “Jump In!” here!