Named the 2025-2026 Young People's Poet Laureate, Carole Boston Weatherford earned a BA from American University, an MA from the University of Baltimore, and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has written more than 80 books and has earned many awards including the NAACP Image Award, a Coretta Scott King Award, and a Newbery Honor. She often writes about African American history, traditions, families and music. Weatherford is the winner of a Ragan-Rubin Award for Literary Achievement from the North Carolina English Teachers Association and the North Carolina Award for Literature. A retired English professor, she lives in Maryland.
