Here Comes the Band

Shadra Strickland was raised in Atlanta. She graduated from Syracuse University and later completed her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Shadra won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her illustrations in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Strickland co-illustrated Our Children Can Soar, written by Michelle Cook and winner of a 2010 NAACP Image Award. She has published with Lee and Low Books, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Candlewick, Chronicle Books, and Little Brown. Her books have received recognition from the American Library Association, Junior Library Guild, and other prominent literary lists. Shadra currently heads the illustration department at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also developed an online picture book class on Craftsy.com. Visit her online at ShadraStrickland.com.

John Holyfield is a renowned fine artist and illustrator of numerous books for young readers, including Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud; Meet Miss Fancy by Irene Latham; Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens by Nina Noland; and The Hallelujah Flight by Phil Bildner. John lives in Virginia. Visit him online at HolyfieldStudio.com.