Joyce Carol Thomas (May 25, 1938 – August 13, 2016)[1] was an African-American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30 children's books.
Thomas was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, the fifth of nine children in a family of cotton pickers.
She took night classes in education at Stanford University, while raising four children, and received the master's degree in 1967.
Thomas has been one of three to five finalists for the Coretta Scott King Award thrice, in 1984 for Bright Shadow, in 1994 for Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, and in 2009 for The Blacker the Berry.
Part of the American Library Association program, the King Award annually recognizes the "most distinguished portrayal of African American experience in literature for children or teens".