In 1999, Derrick Barnes launched his writing career when he was hired as the first full-time Black male copywriter at Hallmark Cards. After publishing his first three books in 2004, Barnes went on to receive critical acclaim and numerous awards for more than a dozen books celebrating Black life and culture.
Barnes talks with Kansas City writer Rob Love about his new middle-grade novel. It features Henson Blayze, a 13-year-old Black football player with extraordinary talent, who faces prejudice in a mostly white town in the Mississippi Delta. The novel spans from the late 1800s through the present day, detailing how much — and how little — things have changed.
Barnes was a National Book Award Finalist for his 2022 graphic novel: Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice. That book also won the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor.
He’s also the author of the picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Barnes now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and four sons.
If you need ADA accommodation to use Library services or attend Library events and programs, please notify us at least 3 business days in advance at 816.701.3409 or ADA@kclibrary.org. (TTY access available via 711 or 866.520.7309 for Spanish.)
The Kansas City Public Library could be videotaping and taking photos for possible inclusion in marketing and promotional communications.
{{ result.authors[0].name }}
{{ result.series[0].name }}
