Renée Watson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Renée Watson
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| Born | July 29, 1978 Paterson, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Writer and Teacher |
| Genre | Young Adult, Picture Books, Middle Grade |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Notable works | Piecing Me Together, Watch Us Rise, Betty Before X |
| Notable awards | John Newbery Honor Book 2018, Coretta Scott King Author Award 2018, Josette Frank Award 2018 |
Renée Watson (born July 29, 1978) is an American teaching artist and author. She writes books for children and young adults.
She is well-known for her award-winning and New York Times bestselling young adult novel Piecing Me Together. This book earned her the John Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Josette Frank Award. Renée Watson also started a non-profit group called the I, Too, Arts Collective. This group offers creative arts programs to the community in Harlem, New York.
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Renée Watson was born in Paterson, New Jersey. She grew up in northeast Portland, Oregon, after her parents divorced. Her mother's family came from West Virginia.
Renée loved poetry from a young age. She read works by famous poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes. When she first read Hughes's poems in elementary school, she felt a strong connection. She saw herself, her family, and her neighbors reflected in his words. Sandra Cisneros's book The House on Mango Street was also very important to her as a child.
From a young age, Renée knew she wanted to write. Her teachers and family always encouraged her to follow this dream. In middle school, she even wrote her first play, which her school performed. While in high school, she was part of a mentorship program. She has since returned to her old high school to mentor new students. As a senior, she also helped teach poetry to younger students.
Renée describes herself as a "teaching artist." She spent twenty years teaching poetry and theater before she became a novelist. In 2005, she moved to New York. There, she studied creative writing and art therapy at The New School. She published her first book while she was still in school. In the future, she hopes to write books for adults and poetry collections.
Renée Watson's Career
Teaching and Workshops
Renée Watson has been a teaching artist for over 20 years. She has worked with different groups across the country. She leads workshops and is an artist-in-residence at many schools. She has taught poetry, writing, and theater classes all over the United States.
For example, she taught poetry at DreamYard, a non-profit group in the Bronx that helps young people learn. She is also on DreamYard's Board of Directors. Renée has also led poetry and theater workshops that help children deal with difficult experiences. She was also a writer-in-residence at Self Enhancement Inc. This is a non-profit in Portland that works with young people who need extra support. Renée also leads workshops for teachers and adult artists.
Becoming a Published Author
In 2019, Renée Watson celebrated 10 years as a published writer. She has been writing since she was in second grade. That's when she wrote a 21-page story!
Her first children's book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, came out in 2010. She wrote it after working with children in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Her second picture book, Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, was published in 2012. It won many awards.
Renée's Young Adult novels include This Side of Home (2015), Piecing Me Together (2017), and Watch Us Rise (2019). Her poem, "Black Like Me," was published in a magazine called Rethinking Schools. Her poetry also appears in other collections. Her middle-grade novel, Ways to Make Sunshine, was published in 2020.
Renée uses her role as an author to talk about important topics. She encourages people to seek counseling and therapy when they need it. She also performed a one-woman show called "Roses are Red Women are Blue" at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
I, Too, Arts Collective
When Renée Watson first moved to New York, she explored famous places in Harlem. She was sad to find that the former home of Harlem Renaissance author Langston Hughes was not open to the public. In 2016, she worried that this historic home might be lost. So, she found the owner and shared her idea to open the home to visitors.
The owner agreed if Renée could pay to rent the building. In just 30 days, Renée raised the money needed. She started a fundraising campaign called #LangstonsLegacy.
Renée then founded the I, Too, Arts Collective. The name comes from Langston Hughes's famous poem, "I, Too." The group decided that Hughes's former home should not be a museum. Instead, it should be a creative space for the Harlem community.
Since opening in 2017, the collective has offered creative arts programs. These include poetry workshops and drum classes for children and adults. They also host many literary events, like book launch parties and readings.
Renée originally hoped to raise enough money to buy the building and renovate the second floor. She wanted to offer special stays for artists from out of town. In return, these artists would lead creative workshops for the community.
On November 4, 2019, the I, Too, Arts Collective announced they would close. Their lease ended on December 31, 2019, and they could not agree on a new one with the owner. Their digital archives are still available on their website.
Selected Works and Their Stories
Renée Watson's first picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, was inspired by her work with students who had lived through Hurricane Katrina. She worked with these children to help them write their own poetry. Then, she wrote this book. It follows four kids as they share their lives before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. She first wrote it for a creative writing class. Her professor encouraged her to publish it.
Her young adult novel, Piecing Me Together, was published in 2017. It tells the story of Jade. Jade is a Black teenager from a low-income family. She attends a mostly white high school in Portland, Oregon. The book shows how she deals with unfair treatment from people around her. It became a bestseller on The New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list. It also received great reviews and won several awards. Renée was inspired to write this novel by the Black women she knew growing up. She also read a 2014 NAACP report about challenges faced by African-American girls.
Renée also co-authored Betty Before X with Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Dr. Betty Shabazz. This book is a fictional story about Dr. Betty Shabazz's life in Detroit in 1945, before she met Malcolm X.
Her third young adult novel, Watch Us Rise, came out in 2019. It is about two best friends who start a women's rights club at their high school. Renée co-wrote this book with author Ellen Hagan.
For both A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and her middle-grade novel Some Places More Than Others, Renée worked with illustrator Shadra Strickland.
Awards and Recognitions
- 2011: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for What Momma Left Me
- 2011: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for A Place Where Hurricanes Happen
- 2013: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
- 2016: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for This Side of Home
- 2018: John Newbery Honor for Piecing Me Together
- 2018: Winner, Coretta Scott King Author Award for Piecing Me Together
- 2018: Winner of Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Josette Frank Award for fiction and Best Books of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" for Piecing Me Together
- 2019: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" for Betty Before X (co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz)
- 2019: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" for Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America (edited by Ibi Zoboi, includes a story by Renée Watson)
- 2020: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for Ways to Make Sunshine
- 2020: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for Some Places More Than Others
- 2022: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for Love Is a Revolution
- 2022: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year with "Outstanding Merit" for The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (co-written with Nikole Hannah-Jones)
- 2022: Bank Street Children's Book Committee Best Books of the Year for Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat (edited by Cassandra Newbould, includes a story by Renée Watson)
