Stories Keep Kwame Alexander Excited About What’s Possible

Poet, teacher, publisher, and producer Kwame Alexander writes the books that he wants to read. That approach has led to writing forty-five books for a range of age groups, becoming a #1 New York Times-best-selling author, receiving an Emmy® Award for his Disney+ series The Crossover, and even founding his own literary nonprofit, One Word at a Time.

One Word at a Time is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and is best known for its Author Study program, which brings authors to visit schools and speak to students across the country.

In the first year, about 85,000 students were introduced to award-winning writers. About half of them had never met an author before, and 82 percent of the surveyed students reported that they are checking out more books from their school libraries as a result of the program.

Forty percent of students also said they talk about books with one another more than before their author visit. Next year, Alexander’s dream is to reach 200,000 students through Author Study. That’s a lot of students ready to discover that reading can be theirs.

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Alexander also prioritizes his own writing and creative work, which energizes him. “I am driven by the excitement of coming up with and sharing stories,” he tells EveryLibrary. “Stories that inspire me and keep me excited about what’s possible.”

He writes for all ages and says that his creative process is roughly the same. “I’m always thinking about my audience in terms of wanting to inspire and inform and empower through literature,” he says. “When I am in the creative process of writing, I am ultimately trying to impress ME. That never changes. I figure if I like it, chances are better you will too.”

Many of his stories center on identity, voice, and resilience, which feel especially urgent for him right now. He particularly loves engaging directly with students and meeting his young readers face to face so he can hear about what matters most to them. Alexander says, “We care about the same things: being loved, being seen, being happy, being hopeful, and being supported as we walk out into this sometimes not-so-beautiful world.”

Alexander also values connecting emotionally with readers. To do that, he is glad to have poetry in his bag of tricks, since it can compress a lot of meaning into a small amount of text. “I don’t have to do all the work,” he tells us. “The poetry itself does the heavy lift. Because poetry is all about heart, it can distill the whole human heart into a few words and immediately connect with a reader or a listener.”

Like many authors we interview here at EveryLibrary, Alexander grew up reading. Both of his parents were not only writers themselves, but also owned a publishing company. “Books were [both] reward and punishment in my house,” he says. “Reading became as much a part of our lives as breathing.”

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Today, he takes every opportunity possible to champion books and sees libraries as a huge part of that work. “Any chance I get to support libraries and librarians, I’m all in,” he says. “Because these institutions of imagination matter so much to me, because they quietly power education, opportunity, creativity, and democracy — often for the people who need it most. And EveryLibrary is at the forefront of that work.”

That shared commitment is what led to the Be Mighty for Your School Library Challenge in April 2026, a nationwide National Poetry Month / School Library Month activation anchored by his latest novel The Mighty Macy, a story about a girl who finds her voice, her courage, and the support of her community by advocating for her school library, inviting public libraries across the country to engage young readers through poetry, library card sign-ups, and community storytelling. 

That work keeps him busy. One of his newest projects is writing the sequel to The Crossover, his Newbery Medal-winning novel that became a Disney+ TV series. It’s been nearly fifteen years since he wrote the first book.

“There’s something beautiful about returning to a world you built and discovering there’s more story still living inside it,” he says. “But honestly, what has me equally fired up right now is the work we’re doing at my nonprofit One Word at a Time.”

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Alexander says that One Word at a Time has a lot of exciting developments coming soon, including some on the horizon that he can’t tell us about quite yet. He looks forward to sharing more about future mentorship opportunities, partnerships, and initiatives.

“Partnerships like the one we’ve built with EveryLibrary are exactly the kind of thing I mean — where story meets advocacy meets community, and something real happens for real people,” he says. “That’s the work. That’s always been the work.”

Ultimately, he is looking to expand the nonprofit to reach even more people and have a greater impact. We can wholeheartedly sign on to the goals that he describes: “More books. More readers. More connection. One word at a time.”

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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