Memphis Writer Alice Faye Duncan Awarded FY27 IAF in Children’s/Young Adult Literature

From Lee Baird, Director of Literary Arts

The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded Alice Faye Duncan its Fiscal Year 2027 Individual Artist Fellowship in Children’s/Young Adult Literature.

A picture book writer, editorialist, and retired librarian, many of her 15 books have received national attention. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop received a Coretta Scott King Honor Medal in 2019. Yellow Dog Blues was a New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Picture Book in 2022. Evicted was a Bank Street Best Book Selection in 2022. Coretta’s Journey was a 2023 Horn Book Fanfare Selection. And in the Fall of 2023, Alice was featured on Good Morning America to speak about children, grief, and the joy found in her recent book, This Train is Bound for Glory. She says, “My mission is to introduce young learners to brilliant Americans whose art, athletics, or activism are not adequately recorded in textbooks. I believe children will be what they see. As they witness the barrier-breakers in my books, these legendary lives inspire children to pursue their own dreams with indomitable determination.”

Of her book Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free, Midwest Book Review says, “Entertaining, informative, inspiring, beautifully illustrated and thoroughly ‘kid friendly’ in presentation, Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free is unequivocally and unreservedly recommended as a high priority addition to family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library Black History, American Biography, and Holiday Themed picture book collections.

Ms. Duncan will use her award to organize a book tour for forthcoming book, and to fund travel for research on TN artist Beauford Delaney. Connect with her here.