For the 100 years of Newbery award, only five Black authors have won the medal: Amina Luqman-Dawson (2023), Jerry Craft (2020), Christopher Paul Curtis (2000).!
Christopher Paul Curtis
American children's book author (born 1953)
Christopher Paul Curtis (born May 10, 1953)[1][2] is an American children's book author.
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His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, was published in 1995 and brought him immediate national recognition, receiving the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award and the Newbery Honor Book Award, in addition to numerous other awards.
In 2000, he became the first person to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award—prizes received for his second novel Bud, Not Buddy—and the first African-American man to win the Newbery Medal.[3][4] His novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 was made into a television film in 2013.
Curtis has written a total of eight novels and has penned introductions to several prominent books in addition to contributing articles to several newspapers and magazines. Following the success of his first two novels, he founded the