Ashley Frederick Bryan (July 13, 1923 – February 4, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books.

Ashley Frederick Bryan was born on July 13, 1923, in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, both in New York City.

[5] He learned to draw, paint, and play instruments at school from artists and musicians participating in the Work Projects Administration program.

He had applied to other schools who had rejected him on the basis of race, but Cooper Union administered its scholarships in a blind test.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned to serve in a segregated unit as a member of a Port Battalion, landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

The committee named Dancing Granny, Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum, and Beautiful Blackbird in particular and cited his "varied art forms".

[2][15] The Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award from the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) biennially recognizes one African-American writer or illustrator of children's or young-adult literature.

"[18] He also received the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion from the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival in 1994.

Dr.Henrietta M. Smith, Professor Emerita at the University of South Florida (USF) School of Information, worked with the Broward County Library to establish the children's book author and illustrator art series named for Ashley Bryan.

[38] On June 10, 2017 the world premiere of Alliance Theatre’s production Dancing Granny took place at the Oglethorpe University's Conant Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.