Shadra Strickland

Shadra is an award-winning illustrator and author of children’s books. She teaches illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and travels the country, conducting workshops and sharing her work with children, teachers, and librarians. Strickland’s illustrations in her first picture book, Bird (written by Zetta Elliott), won her the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the 2009 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. In her picture book, Peach, Strickland draws upon her experiences as a Southern Black woman to form a history of the South. She always tries to tap into memories and experiences from growing up in Georgia and the imagination that derived from being an avid reader.