Jason Reynolds
Get notified whenever this star has news
Browse by day
Who is this?
Jason Reynolds (born December 6, 1983) is an American author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade audiences. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland, Reynolds found inspiration in rap and had an early focus on poetry, publishing many poetry collections before his first novel in 2014, When I Was the Greatest, which won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent. In the next four years, Reynolds wrote eight more novels, most notably the New York Times best-selling Track series — Ghost (2016), Patina (2017), Sunny (2018), Lu (2018) — and As Brave as You (2016). Ghost was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and As Brave as You won the Kirkus Prize, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teen, and the Schneider Family Book Award. Reynolds also wrote a Marvel Comics novel called Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2017). In 2017, Reynolds returned to poetry with Long Way Down, a novel in verse that was named a Newbery Honor book, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and best young adult work by the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards. In 2019, he wrote Look Both Ways, for which he won a Carnegie Medal. From 2020 to 2022, Reynolds was the Library of Congress' National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. In 2023, Reynolds won the Margaret A. Edwards Award. In 2024, Reynolds was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Career
- 1983Born
- 2016Won Coretta Scott King Award
- 2017Won Coretta Scott King Award
- 2018Won Newbery Honor
- 2018Won Edgar Awards
- 2018Won Coretta Scott King Award
Trivia
- •Place of birth: Washington, D.C.
- •Citizenship: United States
- •Known as: writer, children's writer, poet
What happened recently
Jason Reynolds details Lockheed Martin’s new Troy munitions production center plans
Jason Reynolds Takes Kids Books Seriously. He Wants Adults to Do the Same (Exclusive)
Jason Reynolds Wants to Reconsider the Literary Canon — and How Schools Teach Shakespeare (Exclusive)
Bishop Dunne hosts bestselling author Jason Reynolds for the sixth annual Literary Festival
ALA Announces Recipients of the 2026 Jason Reynolds/Simon & Schuster Travel Grant
Ecker Hill’s One Book One School program spotlights literacy, community, and Reynolds - TownLift, Park City News
21 Terrific Books by Jason Reynolds, Faith Erin Hicks, and More | Starred Reviews, December 2025
'%2F%3E%3Ctext%20x%3D'100'%20y%3D'130'%20font-family%3D'-apple-system%2Csans-serif'%20font-size%3D'80'%20font-weight%3D'900'%20fill%3D'white'%20text-anchor%3D'middle'%3EJA%3C%2Ftext%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E){kind=small}
