Joyce Carol Thomas, American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author, Died at 78

  Educator, Writer

Joyce Carol Thomas was born on May 25, 1938, and died on August 13, 2016.

She was an African-American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30 children’s books.

In 1982, she wrote a novel Marked by Fire, Thomas won a National Book Award in category Children’s Fiction and an American Book Award.

She has been one of three to five finalists for the Coretta Scott King Award thrice, in 1984 for Bright Shadow, in 1994 for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, and in 2009 for The Blacker the Berry in 2009.

She was also a part of the American Library Association program, the King Award annually recognizes the “most distinguished portrayal of African American experience in literature for children or teens”.

She lived in Berkeley, California.

Joyce Carol Thomas passed away at 78 years old.