5 WAYS TO GET YOUR NONFICTION BOOK NOTICED

 By Jennifer Swanson

Publication day! It’s something that all authors look forward to. It’s the day your amazingly awesome book is out in the world. (Come on, that’s how we all think of our books, right?) But the real question is, how do you find readers and get them to feel the same way? It takes work. 

Here are five ways to get notice for your book (and YOURSELF!)

1. Canva it up!  (Videos/graphics/pictures/and more)  

This is pretty much where everyone starts. You are willing to do anything and everything to get your book noticed. That includes making videos, cool graphics, joining a promo group… but YouTube? Sure. Why not give it a try. Here are a few tips:

• Canva is your friend! It’s one of the best, and more importantly easiest, ways to create great graphics. You can make all sizes of graphics to fit any social media platform—including blogs.
• You can also use Canva to create and edit videos! Is your book about the ocean and you have some cool video from your vacation of the sea? Use it to create a video with information from your book. Put that video on social media or even upload it to your YouTube channel.
• Canva is also a great place to create Pins for Pinterest (see #2 below)
• You can even make a book trailer on Canva if you really want to. There is sooo much you can do with this platform and most of it is FREE!

2. Pinterest – what’s that?

You may have heard of Pinterest, but how many of you are actually on it? Believe it or not, it’s the place to be if you write nonfiction books. Pinterest is all about promoting topics, information, and FUN activities. If this sounds like something your book has, then you should consider getting on Pinterest. Here are a few tips:

• The first step is learning to make a pin. If you don’t know how, there are tons of great videos to help. Just do a google search and find one.
• Create a few boards. That means pick a topic for your board (not your book!) and start adding pins. Be sure to follow others and add their pins to your board.
• It’s all about the tags. Be sure to add tags to your pins so that they will show up in topic searches.
• Not sure how to get your information seen? Click on the analytics tab at the top of your page. This has TONS of great information about what topics are hot now, what topics will be hot in the future, and when you should post your pins.
• Pinterest can require a bit of a learning curve, but if you can figure it out and post regularly, you can get a lot in return. My Pinterest page regularly has over 25k views a month. During Earth Day last year, I hit 75k views. https://www.pinterest.com/jenswan1222/

3. Get on a Podcast!

Most people have done blog tours for their book releases. You answer a few questions about the book, your writing process, and then maybe offer a giveaway. These are still done and are a good way to reach an audience.

But podcasts are a much more exciting way to reach a much larger audience. They can be either video or just audio only, but podcasts are a way to showcase not only your book, but yourself, too. Here are a few tips for an entertaining and engaging podcast interview:

• Listen to a few podcasts by this host before going on the show. That way you’ll know what to expect
• Make sure the area in the video is neat and showcases your book in the background. Then have a copy of your book to hold up during the interview.
• Keep your answers informative but not too long. Don’t be afraid of silence. This allows the host to ask more questions. An engaging exchange is much more fun to listen to, than having one person go on and on.
• Have FUN! Be prepared with a few fun stories to share—about yourself or your book. Maybe even have a few books to recommend that aren’t yours, but would pair nicely with yours.
• Podcasts are growing! Just do a search of your favorite podcast source (iTunes, Spotify, etc.) Then send an email to the podcast pitching yourself. What have you got to lose?

4. Promote Yourself

Instead of promoting one book, promote yourself. Speaking at an event—library, museum, organizations, or even at book festivals or corporate events is a great way to get noticed.

• Check to see if your area does a summer reading program at your library. If they do, apply to be a presenter. (Check by early February, as many book out that far). This is usually a paying gig and it gets you out in the community. Plus, the library will buy your books
• Is there a local organization that is interested in what you do? Pitch yourself as a speaker. Come up with a fun (and pertinent) topic. But don’t focus on your book
• Does your book fit an event at a museum. Like World Ocean Day? Black History month? Space week? See if they need someone to speak there.
• Apply for book festivals— and don’t be afraid to ask them if they offer small stipends for travel.

5.  Hire Your Own Publicist

While this might not be the first choice for everyone, sometimes investing in hiring a publicist for a short time can be quite helpful. Your book gets exposure to places you can’t get into by yourself. You gain contacts from the exposure that you can use for your next book. This exposure can lead to paying gigs. I’ve had all of these happen. You just never know.

• Blue Slip Media https://www.blueslipmedia.com/
• Kidsbuzz https://www.authorbuzz.com/kids/

 So, what do YOU do to promote your book? Tell us below and share with everyone!

 

 

About the Author:

Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children’s author and podcaster. A self-professed science geek, she has written 50 books for kids, mostly about STEAM. Her books have won a Kirkus Best Books for 2021, a Gold Parent’s Choice Award, multiple NSTA Best STEM awards, and received many other recognitions.

She is the creator of the Solve It for Kids podcast, the STEM Tuesday blog, and STEAMTeam Books. Jennifer routinely teaches at the Highlights Foundation and has presented at the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival and been on NPR’s Science Friday radio show. You can learn more about her here: www.jenniferswansonbooks.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUILDING BRILLIANT BOOK PROPOSALS

By Stephanie Gibeault

You would only submit a novel to an editor after completing the entire manuscript, right? But when it comes to nonfiction for middle grade or YA (and adults too), that’s not necessary. In fact, three of my upcoming books were only written after the contracts were signed. Instead, I sold them using book proposals. In case you want to tackle longer forms of nonfiction, here are four tips for building a brilliant book proposal.

Tip 1) Include Every Section an Editor or Agent Expects

Unless a publisher’s or agent’s submission guidelines say otherwise, include the following sections in your book proposal.  

1. Overview: Summary of the entire book proposal. The what, how, and who.

2. Target Audience: Who will this book appeal to? Are there curriculum connections?

3. Competitive Titles: What books will share shelf space with your proposed book?

4. Outline: Chapter-by-chapter summary of the book’s intended contents.

5. Sample Chapters: Two or three polished chapters from the book.

6. Biography: All about you.

7. Selected Bibliography: List some of your research sources.

You can also include a format section to share your vision for the final physical product such as the page count and whether it will have illustrations or photographs. And if you have the ability to do marketing or research beyond what is expected, such as speaking at an international conference or spending time in the field with a scientist, you can include sections about those plans as well.

Tip 2) Start Your Overview with a Hook

Just as the first lines of a book need to grab a reader, the opening of your book proposal needs to grab an agent or editor. Yes, your sample chapters should be dazzling, but you want to make sure they get that far. I suggest you open with a hook. Consider using a surprising statistic, fascinating fact, or engaging anecdote.

In the book proposal for my upcoming STEM middle grade CALCULATING CHIMPANZEES, BRAINY BEES, AND OTHER ANIMALS WITH MIND-BLOWING MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES  (MIT Kids Press, April 2024, illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett), I chose to ask a question – “What if your pet fish could help you with your math homework?” I hoped editors looking at the proposal would want to read on to discover the answer.

Tip 3) Choose Comp Titles with Care

Your competitive titles (aka comparative titles) serve multiple purposes. They help define your vision, demonstrate you understand the publishing business, show where your proposed book would sit on the library or bookstore shelf, and prove there is a market for your proposed book. Therefore, choose them with care. Stick to books published in the last three to five years that share something in common with your book.

For my upcoming middle grade MAKING SENSE OF DOG SENSES: HOW OUR FURRY FRIENDS EXPERIENCE THE WORLD (Owlkids Books, April 2024, illustrated by Raz Latif), there were plenty of comp titles to choose from. Dogs are a popular subject! I concentrated on books that touched on at least one of a dog’s senses. However, for CALCULATING CHIMPANZEES, BRAINY BEES, AND OTHER ANIMALS WITH MIND-BLOWING MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES, I couldn’t find any other books with an intersection between math and animals. So, I used comp titles about animal cognition then discussed how my proposed topic had a unique angle.

Tip 4) Target Your Biography

Your biography isn’t just about your writing experience; it also allows you to prove why you’re the right person to write this book. You don’t have to be an expert but try to target the biography to your subject matter so an agent or editor can see that you have a valuable connection. Maybe you have always had an interest in this topic, or you already wrote a newspaper article about it.

CALCULATING CHIMPANZEES, BRAINY BEES, AND OTHER ANIMALS WITH MIND-BLOWING MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES is about animal cognition, so I was sure to mention my Master of Science degree in animal behavior in my book proposal’s biography section. And for MAKING SENSE OF DOG SENSES: HOW OUR FURRY FRIENDS EXPERIENCE THE WORLD, I emphasized my experience as a certified professional dog trainer. I wanted to prove to editors that I had what it took to write about those topics.

Give It a Try:

Consider what you’ve learned about your topic and identify possible hooks for your book proposal’s overview. Is there a weird fact or mystery you could share? How can you hook an editor in the first line or two? Then consider possible comp titles. What does your book do differently from those comps that will set it apart in the market?

 

Meet the Author: Stephanie Gibeault is an award-winning freelance writer and children’s book author. She’s written the funny picture book Toby Tootles (Sleeping Bear Press, illustrated by Mary Sullivan), the middle grade Can’t Get Enough Dog Stuff (National Geographic Kids, co-authored by Moira Donohue), and has four more nonfiction books on the way. She teaches research and book proposals for the Highlights Foundation and loves doing math puzzles to relax. Learn more at www.stephaniegibeault.com. 

 

ONE WAY TO BEAT THE BLANK PAGE

By Steve Sheinkin

I’ve got a deep dread of the blank page—who’s with me? Of first drafts, getting started, getting something down. So out of sheer necessity I came up with a technique that works for me. It comes from figure drawing classes I’ve taken, where we always started off with a series of “gesture drawings”—one minute model poses, and the students dash to get down the basics of the form. The lines have to be loose and fast, often with satisfying results.

At some point, I realized I could try the same thing with writing. I gather my notes for a section of the story I’m trying to tell and highlight the key events and info and must-have quotes. Then I open the blank screen or notebook page (either works fine) and then… I just go. I go fast. I scribble or type the basics of what I want to say, not worrying at all about actual sentences, just sketching out the shape. Here’s an example of a “sketch” I did for the opening of my book BOMB, where a spy knows he’s about to be caught:

Morning of May 22, 1950, house in north Philly. Harry Gold in a panic, in pajamas, searching his room, pulling stuff from shelves, shoving stuff in the toilet. FBI agents are coming, and there’s evidence of spying all over the place.

For my newest one, IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE, I decided I wanted to open with the main character, Rudi Vrba, leaving home at 17, setting off on a journey he never could have imagined. I had a quote I knew I wanted to use, so I put that right up front—must-have quotes are a great way to break the spell of the blank page.

Rudi gets in a taxi, mother says: “Take care of yourself. And don’t forget to change your socks.” Car drives away, Rudi tears yellow star from jacket, ducks below window to stay out of sight. He’s 17, heading for border, feels invincible. Has a little cash, a compass, matches, change of clothes—not much for the journey he’s about to attempt…

You get the idea. I’ll save this sort of stuff as a “sketch,” because it’s not really a first draft yet. To me, it takes a really hard thing—writing a first draft—and breaks it down into two easier steps: the sketch, and the step of turning the sketch into actual sentences. Want to try it? Here are the steps I’d recommend:

1. Pick a scene or section of the story you want to tell.

2. Collect notes on the stuff you know you want to get in: facts, quotes, details.

3. Open a blank screen/page—and go! Don’t try to make it good; just get down the basics

I’ll usually rough out an entire book this way before writing a first draft. The “sketch” file may be about half the word count of the full draft. It’s like those gesture drawings from my art classes—they’re messy, and you wouldn’t really show them to anyone, but you’ll know if you’ve got the basic form right. Plus, the page is no longer blank!

 

About the Author 

Steve Sheinkin is the NYT bestselling author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction for young readers, including IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE, BOMB, FALLOUT, UNDEFEATED, THE PORT CHICAGO 50, BORN TO FLY and THE NOTORIOUS BENEDICT ARNOLD. Awards include a Newbery Honor and three National Book Award finalist honors. He lives with his family in Saratoga Springs, NY.

STEP BY STEP: THE JUNKO TABEI-INSPIRED RESEARCH JOURNEY

By Anita Yasuda   

 

On the morning of May 16, 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest. How did she do it? One step at a time: Up, Up, Ever Up! You, too, will succeed in your research journey one step at a time by setting a course, planning, using the proper gear, and with a supportive team.

 

1. Pick Your Target 

Junko and the other 14 members of the Japanese all-women team chose Everest after careful consideration and research. I decided on Junko as my subject using the same method. As an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, I wanted to write a story about mountaineering and a female climber. I also have friends involved in mountain climbing and have always found their stories of high-altitude adventures thrilling. Likewise, write about a subject that makes your heart sing. If it has caught your interest, someone else will also be intrigued. Do not worry if someone else has written on the same subject. Just as there are a variety of wilderness trails, from short walks to adventures requiring ropes and ice axes, a unique story angle combined with your voice will help make your manuscript stand out.

 

2. Master The Ropes

Climbers only plunge into the wilderness after setting a course. You can avoid becoming tangled in research through planning, too. Decide on day one how you will collect and organize your research. Are you team pencil and paper? With this approach, your subject becomes clearer, sentence by sentence. Do you prefer journaling, which includes drawing and adding physical materials such as photographs or newspaper articles into a file? Using this method, visual thinkers will see their story taking shape. Are you team virtual? When I began researching Junko, I planned on travelling to Japan and Nepal. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these plans had to be put aside. So, using Word, I set up a research file that would include over 100 footnotes to keep track of every source, quote and statistic. The file had subheadings, including Junko’s childhood, first hike, and family. 

 

3. Get The Gear 

When climbing, you need to dress in layers; in writing, layers are also essential. To better understand Junko, I researched widely. Secondary sources, including journals and newspaper articles, gave me a sense of Junko, the team's difficulties, and the period. Through my local library, I took advantage of interlibrary loans. I was then able to access more extensive state and international libraries. I accessed journals, including JSTOR, and newspaper archives in Japan through my university’s alumni lending program. I watched online interviews and eventually created a list of experts I contacted, including Junko's best friend and fellow Everest climber, translator, colleagues, and friends worldwide. They helped me clarify my information and add details to my manuscript that hadn't appeared in print before. 

 

4. Prepare For The Avalanche 

Mountaineers learn as much as they can about avalanche risk before heading out. They study the forecast, take courses, and venture out prepared with gear such as crampons and helmets. When you feel overwhelmed by research, take a break. Be kind to yourself. A long walk or putting away your work for weeks or months will help you achieve clarity. Another tip is to write down your book's hook and keep it on your writing desk or your computer. My hook in presenting Junko's life combined her achievements with her humanitarian and environmental legacy.

 

5. Teamwork 

All successful mountaineering expeditions require a solid team. Writing does not have to be a solitary activity. Share your story with trusted critique partners. Even if you do not have a draft ready, share your enthusiasm for your project. When you explain your project aloud, it will remind you why you began the journey. These critique partners will be essential as you revise and rewrite. Rewriting is a beautiful way to hone your craft. Feedback that resonates with you can help you chip away at your manuscript until you have a clear story path from beginning to end.

 

See you at the summit!

Be kind to yourself. Researching and drafting a book is a process. There may be obstacles on the journey, but with each piece of information and revision, you will be closer to the summit. One day, a child will be happy you did.

 

About the Author 

Anita Yasuda is the author of UP, UP, EVER UP! JUNKO TABEI A LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS , illustrated by Yuko Shimizu (Clarion, 2024); DIWALI: A FESTIVAL OF JOY , illustrated by Darshika Varma (Penguin Random House, 2024); and BOLLYWOOD BEAT, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan (Kids Can Press, 2025), as well as many other books for young readers. She has a background in Montessori and early childhood education. Anita lives in the rolling hills of Ontario with her family.

 

 

  

FINDING THE RIGHT “CONTAINER” FOR YOUR WRITING

By Jolene Gutiérrez

In addition to writing for kids, I’ve worked as a teacher librarian at a school for neurodivergent learners for nearly 30 years. Many of my students are reluctant readers, so I’ve become adept at matching readers with certain styles of writing that feel more comfortable to them. In print format, this includes verse novels, Choose Your Own Adventure books, short stories, and graphic novels. Features like more white space on a page, visual support, and shorter text lengths all make for books that feel less intimidating to many readers.

So when I start a writing project, I tend to think about my story and who my intended audience might be. I love picture books—both teaching them and writing them—so I often start there. Whittling certain concepts down to 500ish words can be difficult, though, and while I love using picture books with students of all ages (including my high school students) the picture book “container” has limitations on depth and quantity of content.

When I wrote the first draft of my nonfiction book BIONIC BEASTS: SAVING ANIMAL LIVES WITH ARTIFICIAL FLIPPERS, LEGS, AND BEAKS, it was a ~1000-word picture book. My editor Carol Hinz saw that picture book format and realized it might not be the best way to deliver some of the high-level science concepts, so she suggested trying the manuscript as a ~10,000-word middle grade book with five chapters, each about a different animal. This was the perfect fit for our content: I had space to share information about each animal, their limb differences, and the scientific interventions that helped them. I didn’t shy away from higher-level content, but by including things like photographs and hands-on activities and by breaking the content up into 5 short stories, this book appeals to a wide range of students.

My recent picture book TOO MUCH! AN OVERWHELMING DAY started as a 50-word board book, but that short story didn’t show enough of the child’s day to give a full understanding of sensory overwhelm, so after edits, I ended up with a ~250-word picture book with extensive back matter that walked us through everything that overwhelmed our main character, Birdy, and gave her a chance to practice mindfulness and find peace and calm as well. I went from a small, focused container to a space where I could spread out and tell the story of Birdy’s day. Readers were better able to understand each of the things that overwhelmed Birdy, and caregivers were given content they could use and share with child readers as needed.

My upcoming picture book UNBREAKABLE: A JAPANESE AMERICAN FAMILY IN AN AMERICAN INCARCERATION CAMP, coauthored with Min Tonai, was an exploration in containers. I started working on what became Unbreakable in 2016, and at that time, I wrote it as a middle grade nonfiction book that explored Colorado’s governor Ralph Carr and the Amache incarceration camp in Colorado. A friend who was incarcerated at Rohwer Incarceration Camp in Arkansas connected me to Min because he knew Min’s story would add to my manuscript. After interviewing Min and learning about his experiences in the Amache incarceration camp, we decided to work together and write his family’s story. We tried it as a middle grade novel, but layering Min’s story with information about Governor Carr and other history interrupted and weakened the story. We wrote it as a graphic novel manuscript, but the graphic novel format didn’t emphasize the quiet power of the story (although that could’ve been the fact that it was the first graphic novel manuscript we’d ever written). When we tried it as a picture book, though, we finally found the right container. A picture book manuscript was the perfect format to strip the story down to its heart. This ~1,000-word picture book will have 1,400+ words of backmatter and hopefully will appeal to readers of all ages.

I’m also working on a couple of other informational fiction or nonfiction projects. One is a novel in verse and the other is a graphic novel manuscript, and I believe these formats fit the topic and their intended audience. Time will tell, but after my experiences with finding the right container for my stories, I’m not afraid to try other formats with these projects as well. I encourage you to take a look at your current project(s) and think about the story you’re trying to share, who you envision reading it, and how you might best reach that audience. Testing the fit of different stories in various containers keeps me on my toes as a writer, but it’s also the perfect way to help your story reach its readers.

 

About the Author: Jolene grew up on a farm and now lives with her family and a variety of animals in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. A teacher librarian since 1995, Jolene spends her days sharing children’s books and her nights writing them. She’s the author of UNBREAKABLE: A JAPANESE AMERICAN FAMILY IN AN AMERICAN INCARCERATION CAMP (2025), MAMIACHI AND ME (2024), THE OFRENDA THAT WE BUILT (2024), TOO MUCH! AN OVERWHELMING DAY, The Stars of Latin Pop series, BIONIC BEASTS: SAVING ANIMAL LIVES WITH ARTIFICIAL FLIPPERS, LEGS, AND BEAKS, and MAC AND CHEESE AND THE PERSONAL SPACE INVADER. Find her online: www.jolenegutierrez.com.

  

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: THE SECRET OF WRITING BOOKS ABOUT EVENTS

By NancyChurnin

 

The first time I tried to turn a real-life event into a picture book, I struggled.

Many know me for my picture book biographies. But if you think about it, MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN  and DEAR MR. DICKENS, which are often grouped with my biographies, are actually stories of real events. Manjhi is the story of Dashrath Manjhi, who spent 22 years chiseling a path through a 300-foot mountain to help his village. In my first attempts at telling his story, I talked about his childhood. That didn’t work because this was not really a story about his life, but about what he had done that had changed his village, the people in it, and beyond. The book didn’t take shape until I began and ended with the mountain. Because while Manjhi is my main character, my focus is actually on his action – moving the mountain.

Similarly, DEAR MR. DICKENS is the story of how letters Eliza Davis wrote to Charles Dickens made him see how ugly, hurtful and unfair Jewish stereotypes in his novel were. I spent a long time struggling to trace Eliza’s childhood. When I realized this was not really a biography of Eliza, but the story of how her words changed Dickens, I started with the question of speaking up, with how Dickens’ words stirred readers to compassion and how this woman was determined to use words to change Dickens in a way that would ultimately change his readers.

I have a new book coming out in July, RAINBOW ALLIES: THE TRUE STORY OF KIDS WHO STOOD AGAINST HATE,  which is even more obviously a story of a real event. When a lesbian couple comes home to find their home egged and their rainbow flag torn down, kids in their neighborhood came up with a wonderful way to make this family feel safe and loved again. This time I knew that while the kids were the heroes of the story, this book had to begin and end with a kind neighborhood that had been sullied by this ugly deed and how the kids loving act made it beautiful again. 

When you write about events, think about framing your narrative around a place – like a mountain or a neighborhood – and use your words as Eliza did to reach the hearts of your readers.

About the Author: 

Nancy Churnin is the award-winning author of 16 books (and more on the way) that shine a light on heroes that inspire kids to be heroes, too. Her honors include the National Jewish Book Award, Sydney Taylor Honor and Notables, South Asia Book Award, Junior Library Guild selections, Silver Eurekas, Kids Choice Awards, multiple state reading lists and starred reviews.  She lives in North Texas and is a proud member of KidLitForGrowingMinds and Nonfiction Ninjas, the founders of NFFest.

FREEDOM DREAMING IN NONFICTION WRITING

By Rasha Hamid 

Hot. Ugly. Dry. Dirty. Dusty. These were the words my second grade students used as we kicked off a unit of study with the question, “What do you already know about Sudan?”

I searched for a picture book filled with images that could inspire pride and joy in Sudan, the Sudanese people and the Sudanese Arabic. But there weren’t any. There were a few picture books about Sudan, but almost all of them focused on war and famine. Even atlases included little to no information about the country we called home.

Inspired by a visit from Christopher Myers and by his book Black Cat, with the help of photographs from my students’ families, using artwork and text researched and created by the second graders themselves, we made a book called KADISA. Community members translated the text into multiple languages, and it was shared widely throughout the school and added to our school library.  

A few years later, I realized that I wanted KADISA to be more widely available, that every child could see Sudan, in all its beauty and wonder, reflected from the pages of a book. What started with a freedom dream, became KADISA كديسة, a book that has brought joy, pride, and information to children and grownups all over the world.

 

Historian Robin D. G. Kelley coined the term freedom dreaming to describe the power of imagination as a strategy for collective liberation - imagining the world as it should be so we can make it so.

Powerful nonfiction writing at its best stems from freedom dreams. KADISA كديسة originated in a freedom dream that children could love their homeland. My second book, HOW TO BIRD was inspired by the dream that Black and brown children would know that birding, and the public natural spaces where we find birds, belong to them as much as anyone else. My next nonfiction title, ETERNALLY AUTISTIC, is a freedom dream that autistic children and their grownups will know that being autistic is just who we are, and who we will always be.

Here are a few other impactful nonfiction titles that I imagine started with an author’s freedom dreams: THE WEDDING PORTRAIT by Innosanto Nagara; SOMETIMES PEOPLE MARCH by Tessa Allen; WANGARI'S TREES OF PEACE by Jeannette Winter; and WE ARE PALESTINIAN by Reem Kassis

What is your freedom dream for the world? Take a moment. Visualize it. What kind of world do you want for our children? What information, what images, what words are needed to make that dream a reality? 

Let that freedom dream inspire your next nonfiction book.

Meet the Author: 

Rasha Hamid attended NYC public schools before earning a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies and Education at Vassar College, and a master’s degree in Special Education at Bank Street College of Education. Rasha has developed her practice in classrooms in East Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Khartoum, and Brooklyn for over 25 years. Rasha is an educator-activist—someone who works to make the world more joyful, equitable, and sustainable through education. Rasha is proud to be the autistic mom of an autistic young adult. Rasha also loves baking, making music, and creating all kinds of art.