Joyce Carol Thomas (May 25, 1938 – August 13, 2016) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

Background

Thomas was born in

Ponca City, Oklahoma Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...

, the fifth of nine children in a family of cotton pickers. In 1948 they moved to

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

, to pick vegetables. She learned Spanish from Mexican migrant workers and earned a B.A. in Spanish from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. She took night classes in education at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, while raising four children, and received the master's degree in 1967.

Literary awards

For her 1982 novel '' Marked by Fire'', Thomas won a National Book Award in category Children's Fiction (paperback)"National Book Awards – 1983"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-27. and an

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

. Thomas has been one of three to five finalists for the

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...

thrice, in 1984 for ''Bright Shadow'', in 1994 for ''Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea'', and in 2009 for ''The Blacker the Berry.'' Part of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

program, the King Award annually recognizes the "most distinguished portrayal of African American experience in literature for children or teens". She also received a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year Award and an Outstanding Woman of the 20th Century Award.

Personal life

Thomas resided in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. She died on August 13, 2016, at the age of 78.

Notes

References

External links

*
''Write TV'' Public Television Interview with Joyce Carol Thomas
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joyce Carol 1938 births 2016 deaths People from Ponca City, Oklahoma Writers from Berkeley, California 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American children's writers National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Writers from Oklahoma American Book Award winners