We nurture children so they can fly and be set free and be the citizens for a new world, a new generation, parents are dragging these children intellectually, emotionally back to their era, and I think, culturally, it's really a disservice.

Jewell Parker Rhodes

Jewell Parker Rhodes (born 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American bestselling novelist and educator. She is the author of seven books for children including the New York Times bestsellers Black Brother, Black Brother and Ghost Boys, which has garnered over 30 awards and honors, including The Walter Award, the Indies Choice/EB White Read-Aloud Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Older Readers. Jewell is also the author of Towers Falling and the celebrated Louisiana Girls Trilogy, which includes Ninth Ward, winner of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. Her latest novel, Paradise on Fire, was released in September 2021. Rhodes has written six adult novels: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Season, Moon, and Hurricane, as well as the memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness, and two writing guides: Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Non-Fiction. A reissue of Magic City, a novel about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, was released in 2021 in recognition of the 100th anniversary. Jewell is a regular speaker at colleges and conferences. The driving force behind all of Jewell’s work is to inspire social justice, equity, and environmental stewardship. Jewell is the Founding Artistic Director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and Narrative Studies Professor and Virginia G. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Carnegie-Mellon University.

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