Here's what I do: not write boring books.
Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of many award-winning books, including Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), Long Way Down, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), Stuntboy, in the Meantime (illustrated by Raúl the Third), and Ain’t Burned All the Bright (with artwork by Jason Griffin). The recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds is also the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, and various media outlets. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC.
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
Inspo & awards
Born in Washington, DC and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap to begin writing poetry at nine years old. He focused on poetry for approximately the next two decades, only reading a novel cover to cover for the first time at age 17 and publishing several poetry collections before he published his own first novel, When I Was The Greatest, in 2014. He won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent for this first work of prose and seven more novels followed in the next four years, including Ghost (2016) and two more books in what became his New York Times best-selling Track series, Patina (2017) and Sunny (2018); As Brave As You (2016), winner of the 2016 Kirkus Prize, the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teen, and the 2017 Schneider Family Book Award; and a Marvel Comics novel called Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2017).
Reynolds returned to poetry with Long Way Down (2017), a novel in verse which was named a Newbery Honor book, a Printz Honor Book, and best young adult work by the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards.
what’s new
the podcast
Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me
Tribeca Audio Storytelling: Official Selection
My Mother Made Me is a four-episode series from Radiotopia Presents, where writer Jason Reynolds and his mother, Isabell, explore their shared history, how she raised him, and what they’re teaching each other. They go deep – birth, death, spirituality… but they also keep it light: pushing a cart through Costco, birthday lunches, and hitting the casino together. That’s just how they do.
TRAILER
I’m Jason Reynolds. And this… is my mom.
Bestselling author Jason Reynolds and his mom, Isabell, explore their shared history, how she raised him, and what they’re teaching each other.
on film
Dear, Dreamer
“Dear, Dreamer” is a lyrical portrait of the life and work of rising literary star Jason Reynolds. Best known as a New York Times Best-Selling author and mentor to young adults, this short documentary finds Jason in the writer’s room preparing for the release of his next book. Here we catch a rare glimpse of a singular artist and thinker as he traverses the schools and landscapes of modern-day America. “Dear, Dreamer” is a testament to our shared experiences and the power of seeing yourself in books. It was produced in collaboration with the hardworking students, educators and dreamers of Atlanta who are dedicated to the written word.
LATEST RELEASE
Ain’t Burned All The Bright
Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.
And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.
Jason Reynolds, 2022 | Site Credits