Named the 2025-2026 Young People's Poet Laureate, Carole Boston Weatherford earned a BA from American University, an MA from the University of Baltimore, and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her more than eighty books have won the NAACP Image Award, a Coretta Scott King Award, and a Newbery Honor. She often writes about African American history, traditions, families and music. Weatherford is the winner of a Ragan-Rubin Award for Literary Achievement from the North Carolina English Teachers Association and the North Carolina Award for Literature. Formerly an English professor, she lives in Maryland.Ashleigh Corrin is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and graphic designer. Her debut illustrated book, Layla’s Happiness, written by Mariahdessa Ekere Tallie, received the 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award, as well as the Writer Honor. Ashleigh’s style is defined by textured images with organic and playful lines. She uses her iPad Pro, paper collage, drawing pens, and painting in various mediums. Her inspiration comes from family, nature, and life events both mundane and altering. In addition to illustrating books, Ashleigh is a skilled and experienced graphic designer and enjoys creating editorial illustration, playful lettering, fun motifs, and organic line work. Ashleigh’s appreciation for philanthropic work and acts of service shaped her dream of finding ways to create with purpose and intention. A mission trip to the West Indies at the age of sixteen brought clarity to her intentions, and she set forward on a path to use art to uplift, teach, inspire, and invigorate the minds of youth and the young at heart. Layla’s Happiness (Enchanted Lion, 2019) was her debut children’s book, and it received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, as well as a glowing New York Times review. In 2020, she collaborated with medical professionals and the Emory Global Health Institute at Emory University on We’re Going to Be O.K., an ebook for children about COVID-19. Coming in 2021: Family Reunion by Chad Richardson (Barefoot Books, 2021). Ashleigh lives in Virginia with her one-year-old daughter and her husband. https://www.instagram.com/ashleigh_corrin/ www.ashleighcorrin.com Reviews ?“Affirmations of black childhood abound, and whimsical wishes float like dandelion fluff. Equally as imaginative as the lyrical text, Corrin's boldly colored, textured illustrations beautifully capture the buoyant spirit of Layla, a brown girl exuding confidence, comfortable in her own skin--indoors and out. Well-illustrated poetry of the best kind that will leave sunshine in its wake." -STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus “With Corrin’s layered, whimsical illustrations, each page is a snapshot of a simple moment that adds up to an abundant life, urban yet very much in tune with nature. The effect is both laid back and meaningful — an invitation to answer for yourself.” -The New York Times ? “Tallie honors the many ways children define happiness…A handsome and helpful primer on self-reflection and a mirror to urban black and brown children, this joyous title could be well paired with Samantha Berger’s What If.” -STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal "A celebration of community, but also individualism, what Layla loves and what makes her happy is so specific to her and her family's experience. In uncertain or challenging times, books like Layla's Happiness are bright spots of inspiration. They carry us through and remind us of the gifts we have. The gifts of people in our lives or small moments in nature or even a favorite color." -The Eric Carle Museum
