With 1.8 million books in print, Sharon G. Flake has earned an international reputation as one of the top children’s and young adult authors in the world today. Her breakout novel, The Skin I’m In, has been deemed a modern classic and must-read among middle and high school students, as well as educators and librarians globally. Flake has penned sixteen books, including historical and realistic fiction, picture books, novels in verse, short story collections and more. Her work has been translated into French, Italian, Korean and Portuguese. She is a Kirkus Prize finalist, a YWCA Racial Justice Award winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King Honor awards. In addition, Flake’s work has been named multiple times as one of the Best Books for Young Adult Readers and Best Books for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association; Top Ten Books for the Teen Age by the New York Public Library; a Kirkus Reviews Top Ten Books of the Year; Top Twenty Recommended Books to Read by the Texas Library Association; a Junior Literary Guide Selection; 100 Books Every Teenage Girl Should Read; Booklist’s Editor’s Choice Awards; Detroit Public Library Top Ten Book Award, among many others. Her work has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award and earned her several grants from funders on the local and state level. Flake received grants by The Pittsburgh Foundation to turn her novel The Skin I’m In, into a screenplay, and had it performed on stage. Flake is a former spokesperson for Reading is Fundamental (Pittsburgh) and a National Book Foundation Fellowship recipient as well as a presenter at the Library of Congress National Book Festival. Her work is taught in colleges and universities nationwide.
