Nikki Grimes & Brian Pinkney

Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the Virginia A Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her memoir, "Ordinary Hazards," received both a Sibert and a Printz Honor. Other distinguished works include the Coretta Scott King Book Award winner "Bronx Masquerade," the Coretta Scott King Book Award Honor "Jazmin’s Notebook," "Talkin’ About Bessie," "Dark Sons," "Words with Wings," and "The Road to Paris." She is also the creator of the popular "Meet Danitra Brown." 

Brian Pinkney

Brian Pinkney is the son of Jerry Pinkney, the original illustrator of "A Walk in the Woods." Brian continued the illustration of "A Walk in the Woods" after his father passed away, supplementing Jerry’s sketches with watercolor painting. He has illustrated many books for children, including "Duke Ellington," by his wife, Andrea Pinkney, and "The Faithful Friend" by Robert D. San Souci, both of which received Caldecott Honors. He also received the Coretta Scott King Book Award for "In the Time of the Drums" by Kim L. Siegelson. 

About the Session

Grimes and Pinkney will discuss their book, "A Walk in the Woods," available September 2023. In this moving account of loss, a boy takes a walk in the woods and makes a discovery that changes his understanding of his father. Confused and distraught after the death of his father, a boy opens an envelope he left behind and is surprised to find a map of the woods beyond their house, with one spot marked in bright red. But why? The woods had been something they shared together, why would his father want him to go alone?

Slowly, his mind settles as he sets off through the spaces he once explored with his dad, passing familiar beech and black oak trees, flitting Carolina wrens, and a garter snake they named Sal. When he reaches the spot marked on the map, he finds pages upon pages of drawings of woodland creatures, made by his father when he was his age. What he sees shows him a side of his dad he never knew, and something even deeper for them to share together. His dad knew what he really needed was a walk in the woods.