AAMBC Award Nominee Kwame Alexander Tapped to Lead Imprint
AAMBC Awards’ Male Author of the Year Nominee, Kwame Alexander, has been selected to lead Versify, a new imprint of publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Versify, set to launch Spring 2019 with four titles, will be a division for the young readers’ group at HMH.
Versify will feature books by both new and established authors and HMH said in a statement that Versify will reflect Alexander’s “vision that accessible and powerful prose and poetry — in picture books, novels, and nonfiction — can celebrate the lives and reflect the possibilities of all children.”
The tentative four books that will be first debuted are This is Us by Alexander which is a picture book that is a tribute to African American life, ¡Vamos!/Let’s Go!, a series of bilingual picture books; White Rose, a young adult novel about Nazi resistance leader Sophie Scholl; and The Last-Day-of-Summer, a fantasy novel for middle schoolers.
According to Alexander Versify will not “reinvent publishing,” but he hopes it will create”more voices in the room that create unique and intelligent entertainment that electrifies and edifies young people.”
Alexander is a New York bestselling author who has published many novels and poetry books. His most most recent books, Out of Wonder — in which he co authored with Chris Corderley and Marjory Heath Wentworth is expected to be released on March 20, 2018 and Rebound is expected to be released on April 2, 2018.
AAMBC — stands for African Americans on the Move Book Club, has hosted annual literary awards since 2009. This literary organization was founded to celebrate and support African American writers and most importantly those who are unknown and would not otherwise win accolades. This years’ awards ceremony will be held Saturday, June 9, 2018 at 7:30 pm in Atlanta, GA.
