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Ashley Bryan Ashley Bryan grew up in New York City in the 1930s to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and has shared the joy of song with children ever since. One of today’s most beloved children’s book illustrators, he cannot remember a time when he was not drawing and painting. His parents sent him to free art and music classes sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and he later attended the Cooper Union Art School. Recognizing the profound influence of African art on Western art, he undertook a school project illustrating African tales, drawing on the abundance of African art resources in New York City museums and libraries. He began illustrating children’s books in the 1960s, and in the 1970s created books of black American spirituals when he discovered there were no introductory selections of this music for young people. While working on a book of African folk tales, he was encouraged to retell the stories in his own way, in the spirit of the oral tradition. Reading aloud from the works of African American poets has greatly influenced his prose style, inspiring the vocal play he incorporates into his writing. He hopes that his work with these African tales will serve as a “tender bridge” connecting past to present, reaching across distances of time and space. Mr. Bryan has been a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer, a Hans Christian
Anderson Award nominee, a multiple Coretta Scott King Award Winner
(most recently in 2008 for Let It Shine), and the recipient of
countless other awards and honors. He lives in Islesford, one of
the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Maine, where he can often
be found with a cluster of children, all singing.
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