Kekla Magoon

Kekla Magoon is an American author, best known for her NAACP Image Award-nominated young adult novel The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, The Season of Styx Malone, and X. In 2021, she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her body of work. Her works also include middle grade novels, short stories, and historical, socio-political, and economy-related non-fiction.

Kekla Magoon
Magoon at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born1980 (age 40–41)
Michigan, U.S.
LanguageEnglish
EducationBA in History, MFA in Writing
Alma materVermont College of Fine Arts, Northwestern University
Genreyoung adult fiction, middle grade fiction, short stories, non-fiction
Notable worksHow It Went Down, X, The Rock and the River, The Season of Styx Malone
Notable awards2016 Walter Dean Myers Award
Years active1999-now
Website
keklamagoon.com//

Personal life

Magoon was born in Michigan and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[1] She is the biracial daughter of a white American mother with Dutch and Scottish ancestry and a black Cameroonian father.[1] As a child, she spent a few years living in Cameroon.[1]

Prior to becoming a writer, she worked for non-profit organizations in New York City.[1] She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, where she majored in History, with a concentration on Africa and the Middle East.[1] Magoon has a master of fine arts degree in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, which she was able to study via a low-residency program for children's writers.[1] In 2015, she taught writing in New York City[2] and served as a judge for School Library Journal.[3] In 2017, she was faculty at the Highlights Foundation, a non-profit organization in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where she taught a workshop about developing new creative strategies through meditation sessions, workshop elements, and discussion, together with authors Laurie Calkhoven and Nicole Valentine.[4][5]

She is a member of the NWP Writers Council.[6]

Magoon lives in Vermont and teaches writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.[1]

Selected works

Magoon says that all her novels deal with how ordinary kids can make a difference in the world.[7]

Her debut novel, The Rock and the River, set in 1968 Chicago and follows the story of the 13-year-old son of a civil rights activist and follower of Martin Luther King Jr., who has to deal with his brother joining the Black Panther Party.[8] It discusses issues of class, race, and poverty.[9] Magoon says she spent time deliberately researching the non-violent civil rights movement, has always had an interest in history, and majored in History in college.[8] She initially had the idea to write the novel between her first semester at Northwestern University and revised the first draft during her second and third semester, before submitting The Rock and the River as her thesis.[8]

She wrote her fourth young adult novel, How It Went Down, about the aftermath of the shooting of a black teenager, in response to the shooting of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.[10] Frustrated by the media coverage's bias, she decided to write a fictionalized story that explored what it would be like to be personally affected through a close family member or friend being killed.[10]

Magoon's sixth young adult novel X is a fictionalized account of civil rights activist Malcolm X's formative years and co-authored with his daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz.[11] Shabazz says her agent chose Magoon as a co-writer based on the quality of her previous work and the themes she tackled in her novels.[12]

Her seventh Middle Grade novel, The Season of Styx Malone, about three African American boys living in a small town in Indiana, United States, who swap their little sister for fireworks, was published by Wendy Lamb books in 2018.[13] Magoon says that she loosely based the novel on a real event from her childhood, when an ice cream parlor clerk in North Carolina told them about how his father and uncle once tried to trade their baby sister.[7]

In July 2019 it was announced that Magoon would be publishing a non-fiction young adult novel about the legacy of the Black Panthers, called Until All Are Free: The Black Panther Party's Call for Revolution and slated for a tentative publication date with Candlewick in 2021.[14]

Critical reception

Magoon's novels have earned starred reviews from multiple literary magazines.

Her novels Light It Up,[15] The Season of Styx Malone,[13] X,[16] and Ibi Zoboi's anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America[17] that she contributed a short story for, and How It Went Down[18] have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly. They also chose How It Went Down as a Publisher's Weekly Pick.[18]

Kirkus Reviews awarded her debut novel Camo Girl[19] How it Went Down,[20] Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti's 1968: Today's Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change,[21] and The Season of Styx Malone a starred review, calling the latter "Heartening and hopeful, a love letter to black male youth grasping the desires within them, absorbing the worlds around them, striving to be more otherwise than ordinary." [22]

School Library Journal gave starred reviews to Rebellion of Thieves,[23] Jessica Spotswood's anthology A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers and Other Badass Girls,[24] and The Season of Styx Malone.[25] The Season of Styx Malone was especially praised by critics, also earning a starred review from Shelf Awareness[26] and The Horn Book,[27] and being named one of the best books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews.[22]

X, co-authored with Ilyasah Shabazz, was one of five novels in 2015 to receive six starred reviews.[28]

Bibliography

Middle Grade

  • Camo Girl (Aladdin, 2011)
  • Robyn Hoodlum Series
    1. Shadows of Sherwood (Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2015)
    2. Rebellion of Thieves (Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2016)
    3. Reign of Outlaws (Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2017)
  • Infinity Riders (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2016)
  • The Season of Styx Malone (Wendy Lamb Books, 2018)

Young Adult

  • The Rock and the River Series
    1. The Rock and the River (Aladdin, 2009)
    2. Fire in the Streets (Aladdin, 2012)
  • 37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) (Henry Holt, 2012)
  • How It Went Down (Henry Holt, 2014)
  • X, co-authored with Ilyasah Shabazz (Candlewick Press, 2015)
  • Light It Up (Henry Holt, 2019)

Short Stories

  • in Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves (Candlewick Press, 2016)
  • in A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers and Other Badass Girls (Candlewick Press, 2016)
  • in I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016)
  • in Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love (Henry Holt, 2018)
  • in Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America (Balzer + Bray, 2019)

Non-fiction

  • For the Essential Viewpoints Series
    • Gun Control (Abdo Publishing Company, 2007)
    • The Welfare Debate (Essential Library, 2008)
    • Sex Education in Schools (Essential Library, 2009)
    • Media Censorship (Essential Library, 2009)
  • For the Essential Events Series
    • The Salem Witch Trials (Abdo Publishing Company, 2008)
    • The Zebulon Pike Expedition (Abdo Publishing Company, 2009)
  • For the Essential Lives Series
    • Abraham Lincoln (Abdo Publishing Company, 2007)
    • Nelson Mandela: A Leader for Freedom (Abdo Publishing Company, 2008)
    • Cesar Chavez: Crusader for Labor Rights (Essential Library, 2010)
  • Today the World Is Watching You: The Little Rock Nine and the Fight for School Integration, 1957 (Twenty-First Century Books, 2011)
  • in 1968: Today’s Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change (Candlewick Press, 2018)

Awards

Won

  • 2010 John Steptoe New Talent Award for The Rock and the River[29]
  • 2011 Audie Award for Teens for The Rock and the River[30]
  • 2016 Walter Dean Myers Award for Honor Book for X[31]
  • 2019 Coretta Scott King Award for Author Honor for The Season of Styx Malone[32]
  • 2019 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Fiction and Poetry Award for The Season of Styx Malone[33]
  • 2021 Margaret Edwards Award for X: A Novel, How It Went Down, The Rock and the River, and Fire in the Streets[34]

Nominated

References
  1. "About Kekla". Kekla Magoon. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  2. Kokie, E. M. "Interview With Author Kekla Magoon – The Pirate Tree". Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  3. Commander, Battle. "2015 Judge: Kekla Magoon". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  4. "Faculty Interview: Kekla Magoon". Workshops for Children's Authors & Illustrators | Highlights Foundation. 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  5. "About Us". Workshops for Children's Authors & Illustrators | Highlights Foundation. 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  6. "Writers Council - National Writing Project". nwp.org. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  7. "Q & A with Kekla Magoon". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  8. thru_the_booth (2009-02-18). "INTERVIEW WITH KEKLA MAGOON - PART 1". Through The Tollbooth. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  9. "Review of the Day: The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon — @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production". blogs.slj.com. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  10. Gallucci, Kelly (2014-12-22). "Kekla Magoon and Lindsey Lane Talk about the Importance of Perspective". Bookish. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  11. Peña, Matt de la (2015-02-06). "'X,' a Novel About Malcolm X". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  12. Diaz, Shelley. "Interview: Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon on their YA Novel About Teenage Malcolm X". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  13. "The Season of Styx Malone". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  14. "Rights Report: Week of July 29, 2019". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  15. "Children's Book Review: Light It Up by Kekla Magoon. Holt, $18.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-12889-8". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  16. "https://www.slj.com?reviewDetail=x-a-novel". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31. External link in |title= (help)
  17. "Children's Book Review: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America by Edited by Ibi Zoboi. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-269872-8". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  18. "How It Went Down". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  19. CAMO GIRL by Kekla Magoon | Kirkus Reviews.
  20. HOW IT WENT DOWN by Kekla Magoon | Kirkus Reviews.
  21. 1968 by Marc Aronson , Susan Campbell Bartoletti | Kirkus Reviews.
  22. THE SEASON OF STYX MALONE by Kekla Magoon | Kirkus Reviews.
  23. Kekla, MAGOON. "Rebellion of Thieves". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  24. Jessica, SPOTSWOOD. "A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers and Other Badass Girls". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  25. SLJ. "The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon | SLJ Review". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  26. "Shelf Awareness for Readers for Friday, November 30, 2018". shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  27. Harris, Monique. "Review of The Season of Styx Malone". The Horn Book. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  28. Piedmont, Joy. "X: A Novel". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  29. admin (2009-01-26). "John Steptoe New Talent Award". Round Tables. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  30. "2011 Audie Awards® - APA". audiopub.org. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  31. "We Need Diverse Books Announces The 2016 Winners of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature – Young Adult Category". We Need Diverse Books. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  32. "The Season of Styx Malone | Awards & Grants". ala.org. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  33. "Presenting the 2019 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winners — The Horn Book". hbook.com. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  34. Edwards Award, Archived link, American Library Association, accessed January 30, 2021
  35. "Nominations announced for the 41st NAACP IMAGE AWARDS". Lipstick Alley. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  36. "Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Cumulative List 1988-2019 Updated 3/23/18" (PDF). Rebecca caudill Young Readers' Book Award. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  37. White, Caitlin. "Women Lead The YA National Book Award Longlist". Bustle. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  38. "Coretta Scott King Awards 2016 | Kidsreads". kidsreads.com. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  39. "2017 Magnolia Award Nominationss" (PDF). The Magnolia Book Awards. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  40. "Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Master List 2016 – 2017" (PDF). State of Vermont Department of Libraries. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  41. "2018 Winner and 2019 Nominees! | Rhode Island Teen Book Award". riteenbookaward.org. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
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