Noa Denmon (born 1995 or 1996) is an American illustrator. She received a Caldecott Honor in 2021 for illustrating the picture book '' A Place Inside of Me'', written by

Zetta Elliott Zetta Elliott (born October 26, 1972) is a Canadian-American poet, playwright, and author. Her first picture book ''Bird (book), Bird'', won many awards. She has also been recognized for other contributions to children's literature, as well as for ...

Early life and education

Denmon was born in

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1995 or 1996. She attended the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, where she developed an interest in the visual arts and graduated in 2014. After high school, she studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, receiving the

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree in 2018 and a master's degree in art education in 2019.

Career

In 2019, Denmon illustrated the picture book '' A Place Inside of Me'', written by

and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in July 2020. She received a Caldecott Honor on January 25, 2021, for her illustrations for the book, which depict a Black child's reaction to the police killing a girl in his community. Denmon initially created a young female protagonist for the first-person narrator; after further deliberations with Elliott, the protagonist was modified to be an older boy. Her artwork, which was in shades of blue, pale yellow, and mauve, was received positively by critics. A reviewer for '' Publishers Weekly'' praised Denmon's "textured, dynamic illustrations" of a diverse Black community and her depictions of influential Black figures throughout history. She was invited by Google to illustrate the Google Doodle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021. The finished doodle, which was featured on Google's homepage on January 18, 2021, was a juxtaposition of two scenes: one in black and white featuring people from the 1960s listening to Martin Luther King Jr. speak, and the other in color showing people in modern times who are creating a mural of events from King's life while

socially distanced In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...

due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was inspired by the George Floyd protests in 2020 and Denmon's experiences as a Black woman. In addition to her work on ''A Place Inside of Me'' and the covers of other children's books, Denmon has designed illustrations for '' The New York Times'', '' The Washington Post'', and

The Marshall Project The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...

. She is attached as the illustrator for ''Wall of Respect'', a picture book by

Jabari Asim Jabari Asim (born August 11, 1962) is an author, poet, playwright, and professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the former editor-in-chief of ''The Crisis'' magazine, a journal of politi ...

that is scheduled for publication by Penguin Books in 2024.

Personal life

As of 2021, Denmon lives in

Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The borough has a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army o ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denmon, Noa 1990s births African-American illustrators American children's book illustrators American women illustrators Artists from Pittsburgh Living people University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni 21st-century American women