Join the Coretta Scott King (CSK) Book Award Program Committee as we celebrate Coretta Scott King’s 95th birthday! CSK 2022 John Steptoe Award winners, author Amber McBride and illustrators Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, will share their work and lives in this engaging conversation.
Amber McBride is a professor of English at the University of Virginia. She received her BA in English from James Madison University in 2010 and acquired her MFA in Poetry from Emerson College in 2012. She has taught English Composition, English Literature, and Poetry Composition at James Madison University, Strayer University, and Northern Virginia Community College.
Amber’s debut title “Me (Moth)” features Moth, the granddaughter of a Hoodoo root worker, who thinks she is invisible, and a Navajo boy named Sani, who is the only one who really sees her, and what happens when they take a road trip and discover that their families were connected long before they were born.
Regis and Kahran Bethencourt are a husband and wife duo, and the imaginative forces behind CreativeSoul Photography. With more than ten years of working with hundreds of children, families, and brands, they specialize in child and lifestyle photography, while incorporating authentic visual storytelling.
“The Me I Choose to Be” explores the boundless potential that all kids have. The story particularly focuses on the beauty and story of Black and Brown children, using power similes and metaphors. The kids are depicted in bold photographic images that show they are able to feel joyful and sad, while also being creators and bridge builders.
