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Jacqueline Woodson: Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence

ݮƵѰapp is proud to have author Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Newbery Honor, National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and MacArthur “Genius” Grant, as our Education Artist-in-Residence.  In her second joyous season, Jacqueline will continue to introduce her inspiring characters and passionate storytelling to Kennedy Center stages.  Highlights of Jacqueline’s residency for the 2022-2023 season include three world premiere Kennedy Center commissions: The Day You Begin, a poignant and heartening musical about finding the courage to connect; Each Kindness, a musical exploration of Jacqueline’s picture book by acclaimed music group Rootstock Republic that conveys an important anti-bullying message; and This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration, a National Symphony Orchestra Family Concert inspired by Jacqueline’s moving picture book full of heart, hope, and reflection. Explore our featured resources focusing on Jacqueline's work.

Photo: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

About Jacqueline

Jacqueline Woodson is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming, which also received the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award and a Sibert Honor. She also wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. 

She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Before the Ever After, New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor MeThe Other SideEach Kindness; Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners FeathersShow Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle’s Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. 

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Kennedy Center Education

 

The Vice President of Education is generously endowed by the

A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.

Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; Wells Fargo; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

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