Ashley Bryan’s passion for poetry and the history of black people inform all of his work. For example, the seed for Beautiful Blackbird came from a Zambian folktale in which birds of all colors come together to decide who is the most beautiful. Blackbird
wins the prize because he is the most black. “I had grown up with the stories that black is the lousy color. It’s all that’s left. It’s what you get,” Bryan says. “So here was a chance to do a story which was celebrating black.”“I’m always very moved by [my readers’] responses to my work…How my work has inspired the creative activities and lives of others. That may be true of all writers and illustrators. We do our work and we are trying to give the best that we can, but when we see that others have picked up from what we are doing and found ways of expressing themselves, that makes it especially exciting.” [Read the rest of my profile with Ashley Bryan.]