Hear from Authors on their Works
Showcasing Black storytellers is a powerful way to celebrate Black History Month with your students! Black authors, illustrators, and media makers share stories about their lives, their communities, and their imaginations through children’s literature, poetry, novels, journalism, and more every day – and introducing our young people to these stories and texts can help them learn more about the world around them and how we can all document stories and imagine beautiful futures connected to identity and culture.
Our friends at PBS Books regularly connect with Black authors and artists, and we get the benefit of being able to watch and share the interviews and features that they produce. For years, PBS Books has been showcasing authors who have powerful things to say and unique ways of saying them. These author talks are educational and inspirational for anyone, but especially for young people who might be curious about telling their own stories or bringing their literacy learning to life.
We encourage educators to watch these talks to learn more about the authors that you might be reading and maybe even sharing with your students, and then think about how you might incorporate this content into your teaching and learning for Black History Month. Here are our suggestions.
Core Content Area Applications
- In your ELA class: watch author talks with authors like Kwame Alexander, Clint Smith, and Cozbi Cabrera alongside reading their nonfiction, short stories, or poetry to help students understand the context and background for the writing. Have students think about and investigate purpose and style as they read.
- In your creative writing class: watch author talks that feature fiction writers and invite students to write their own stories inspired by an author’s signature style or subject. Start small by asking students to mimic verbage or grammatical structure, or have students follow the approach to imagination or research described in the author talk for a longer project.
- In your business and marketing class: watch author talks and have students take notes on the author’s journey and the elements of business and entrepreneurship that allow them to be creative while finding success. Help students think about how popular culture, global contexts, and identity contribute to success.
- In your math or statistics class, develop any variety of research challenges to have students practice evaluating data around readership, sales and profits, and long-term predictions of success for authors. Students can compare data between Black American authors and authors from other identity groups to identify the impact of identity on public perception, sales, and other metrics.
Media Literacy and Content Creation
- Watch author talks and use our media literacy discussion questions to think critically about the perspective, purpose, and impact of the interview.
- Watch author talks as models and invite students to produce their own interview segments as podcasts or video shows with local authors, creators, or other notable figures. PBS Storymaker has a great lesson plan for helping students prepare for on-camera interviews.
Black History Month Author Talk Videos
Music as Resistance: Jonathan Abrams
Cozbi Cabrera: Me and Mama
Yolanda Renee King: We Dream a World
Vashti Harrison: Big
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi: Zora Neale Hurston’s Magnolia Flower
Kwame Alexander: The Door of No Return and An American Story
Clint Smith: The Library of Congress National Book Festival
Dwayne Reed: Simon B. Rhymin’
