Lesa Cline-Ransome is the Newbery honor award-winning author of many critically acclaimed books for young readers including Before She was Harriet, Overground Railroad, Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams and Fighting With Love: The Legacy of John Lewis. Her numerous honors include the Jane Addams Award, the Christopher Award, Kirkus, and SLJ Best Book of Year and three NAACP Image Award nominations. Her middle grade novel Finding Langston received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. One Big Open Sky is her first novel in verse and the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and the Newbery Honor.  https://www.lesaclineransome.com 

Awards

Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor, ALA Notable, New York Times Best Book of 2024

3 Fun Facts

1. I have won several candlepin bowling tropies!
2. I named my children after famous Black Americans.
3. I rode a camel in the Sahara desert.