Kadir Nelson

About the Author

Kadir Nelson is a highly acclaimed painter and the illustrator of many books for young readers, including the Caldecott Medal winner The Undefeated, written by Kwame Alexander; the New York Times bestseller We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award and Illustrator Honor as well as the Sibert Medal; Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, written by Carole Boston Weatherford, which was an NAACP Image Award winner, Caldecott Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner. His work has appeared in many publications, including Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and The New Yorker. Kadir’s original paintings are in the permanent collections of the US House of Representatives and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture. A recipient of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, he has also been inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. He lives in Southern California.