Keynote Speaker Alicia D. Williams

The 2024-2025 Scholastic Celebration featured keynote speaker Alicia D. Williams, a highly acclaimed author known for her poignant and impactful middle grade novels and picture books. Williams’s work often explores themes of identity, self-discovery, grief, and the complexities of growing up.

She is the author of Mid-Air, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. She is also widely recognized for her Newbery Honor-winning novel, Genesis Begins Again, which also received Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

In addition to her novels, Alicia D. Williams has penned several beloved picture books, including Jump at the Sun, Nani and the Lion, and The Talk, the latter of which was a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Click here to learn more of Alicia D. Williams’s books.

Experience her inspiring keynote address from the 2024-2025 Scholastic Celebration by watching the video below: