Mildred DeLois Taylor
, b. 1943
Mildred DeLois Taylor is an African American author known for the Logan family novels. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Taylor and her family moved to Toledo, Ohio, when she was four months old. Taylor graduated from the University of Toledo with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1965. She then spent two years in Ethiopia with the Peace Corps and later returned to study at the University of Colorado, gaining a master’s degree in journalism and helping to establish the university’s first Black Studies programme. Taylor’s first book, Song of the Trees, won the 1974 Council on Interracial Books for Children Award and was published the following year. Taylor’s second and best-known novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, won the 1977 Newbery Medal, making Taylor the second African American recipient of the award. For the following Logan novels, Taylor has won multiple awards including four Coretta Scott King Awards. The final book in the Logan series will be published in January 2020.
Sources:
Crowe, Chris, Presenting Mildred D. Taylor, New York, NY: Twayne, 1999;
“Mildred D. Taylor,” (accessed: February 24, 2020).
Bio prepared by Sarah Hardstaff, University of Cambridge, sflh2@cam.ac.uk
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