Dhonielle Clayton (born 1983) is an American author and chief operating officer of We Need Diverse Books.
She also collaborated with Tiffany D. Jackson, Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon to write Blackout (2021).
[1][2] Beyond writing, Clayton is president and owner of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, two boutique book packagers and Chief Operating Officer of We Need Diverse Books,[3] which seeks to increase representations of marginalized groups in children and young adult literature.
[9] In 2019, Clayton attracted criticism for negative Tweets about a student of Northern State University, who had advocated for the inclusion of three books by persons of colour, including Bryan Stevenson's memoir Just Mercy about racial injustice, instead of a YA novel by Sarah Dessen, in the university's "Common Reads" program.
The fantasy young adult novel centers a 16-year-old girl and her sisters, tasked with restoring beauty to a colorless grey world.
[18][19][20] Blackout, co-authored with Tiffany D. Jackson, Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon, was published June 22, 2021 by Quill Tree Books.