Zetta Elliott
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Zetta Elliott is a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. She was born and raised in Canada, but has lived in the US for over 25 years. She earned her PhD in American Studies from NYU in 2003; she has taught at Ohio University, Louisiana State University, Mount Holyoke College, Hunter College, Bard High School Early College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College. Her poetry has been published in New Daughters of Africa, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, the Cave Canem anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Check the Rhyme: an Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees, and Coloring Book: an Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers. Her novella, Plastique, was excerpted in T Dot Griots: an Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers, and her plays have been staged in New York, Cleveland, and Chicago. Her essays have appeared in School Library Journal, The Huffington Post, and Publishers Weekly. <p /><p />She received the Childrens Literature Associations Article Award for her 2014 essay, The Trouble with Magic: Conjuring the Past in New York City Parks. She is an advocate for greater diversity and equity in publishing, and has self-published numerous illustrated books for younger readers under her own imprint, Rosetta Press; 3 were named Best of the Year by the Bank Street Center for Childrens Literature, and Benny Doesnt Like to Be Hugged was a first-grade fiction selection for the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Dragons in a Bag, a middle grade fantasy novel, was published by Random House in 2018; the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) named it a Notable Childrens Book. Its sequel, The Dragon Thief, was named a Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 by CBC Books. Say Her Name, a young adult poetry collection, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in January 2020; A Place Inside of Me was published in July 2020 by FSG and was named a Notable Poetry Book by NCTE.
A Place Inside of Me | Bird | Dragons in a Bag | Melenas Jubilee | Moonwalking | Say Her Name | Ship of Souls | The Door at the Crossroads | The Enchanted Bridge | The Witch’s Apprentice
A Hand to Hold | A Place Inside of Me | A Wave Came Through Our Window | A Wish After Midnight | American Phoenix: poems | An Angel for Mariqua | Benny Doesnt Like to Be Hugged | Billie’s Blues | Bird | Blue Boy | Chicken Wonders…Why? | Cin’s Mark | Dayshaun’s Gift | Dragons in a Bag | Everyone Has a Story to Tell: Tips & Activities for Emerging Writers | Find Your Voice | Fox & Crow: A Christmas Tale | I Love Snow! | Let the Faithful Come | Max Loves Muecas! | Melenas Jubilee | Milo’s Museum | Moonwalking | Mother of the Sea | On My Block | One Eye Open | Perennial | Room In My Heart | Roots Run Deep | Say Her Name | Ship of Souls | Stranger In The Family | The Boy in the Bubble | The Deep | The Door at the Crossroads, | The Dragon Thief | The Enchanted Bridge (Dragons in a Bag) | The Ghosts in the Castle (City Kids) | The Girl Who Swallowed the Sun | The Last Bunny in Brooklyn | The Magic Mirror | The Oracle’s Door | The Phantom Unicorn (City Kids) | The Phoenix on Barkley Street | The Return | The Ship in the Garden | The War of the Witches (Dragons in a Bag) | The Witch of the Woods | The Witch’s Apprentice