Christopher Paul Curtis

Christopher Paul Curtis (born May 10, 1953) is an American children's book author. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, was published in 1995 and brought him immediate national recognition, receiving the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award and the Newbery Honor Book Award, in addition to numerous other awards. In 2000, he became the first person to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award—prizes received for his second novel Bud, Not Buddy—and the first African-American man to win the Newbery Medal. His novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 was made into a television film in 2013.

Curtis has written a total of eight novels and has penned introductions to several prominent books in addition to contributing articles to several newspapers and magazines. Schools use his books for literature studies and to teach children about the cruelties of segregation. There are even novel study guides for his books. Following the success of his first two novels, he founded the Nobody but Curtis Foundation in an effort to improve literacy levels amongst children and young adults in North America and Africa.

Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Curtis worked as an autoworker for General Motors for thirteen years following his high school graduation. During this time, he attended the University of Michigan-Flint as a part-time student, ultimately receiving his degree in 2000. Curtis is praised for his storytelling ability and his use of humor to discuss more serious topics of racism, poverty, and child abuse. His ability to authentically portray the experiences of children and share history in a way that encourages readers to learn more has made him a widely-taught author in elementary and middle schools.

Early life Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, on May 10, 1953, the second child of five children. His mother, Leslie Jane Curtis, was a homemaker until her children got older. His parents valued reading and exposed Curtis and his siblings to a wide variety of books, taking them to the library every Saturday. However, in an interview with the New York Public Library, Curtis stated that, despite reading a lot, he found it difficult to connect to books and stories because they were not by or about black people like himself. The summer after graduating from high school, Curtis became a member of a Lansing-based theatrical/musical group called Suitcase Theater which rehearsed on Tuesdays and Thursdays and performed musical numbers and the works of Langston Hughes. The group performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His job entailed hanging fifty- to eighty-pound car doors on Buicks for ten hours a day. It was physically demanding as well as monotonous labor.

Writing career In 1993, Curtis, convinced by Kaysandra (Kay) Sookram, his wife at the time, took a year off of work to focus on his writing.

Curtis's second book, Bud, Not Buddy, published in 1999, won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award in addition to numerous other awards. He has also written articles and reviews for newspapers and magazines across the country. He spends his afternoons engaging in hobbies before spending the evenings writing again. Through this writing, he hopes to help his readers recognize the importance of history and how it affects all people as well as encourage them to learn more about the historical events he includes in his novels. A few years later, Curtis married Habon Aden and they have two children together. Bud, Not Buddy (1999) – It is 1936 in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but he has a few things going for him. Bud goes to find who he believes is his father, a man named Herman E. Calloway. He meets a few friends on the way, and stays determined to achieve his goals. Curtis modeled characters in Bud, Not Buddy after his two grandfathers: Earl "Lefty" Lewis, a Negro league baseball pitcher, and Herman E. Curtis, leader of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators during the Great Depression. Bud, Not Buddy won the 2000 Newbery Medal. Mr. Chickee's Messy Mission (2007) – When Russell's dog, Rodney Rodent, jumps into a mural to chase a demonic-looking gnome and disappears, the Flint Future Detectives are on the case. Elijah of Buxton (2007) – A story based on the historic settlement of North Buxton, Ontario, developed for and by former African-American slaves who escaped to Canada on the Underground Railroad. In Canada they were known as Negro refugees. Elijah of Buxton won the 2008 Coretta Scott King Award and the 2008 Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction for young adult.

Curtis also edited Bites: Scary Stories to Sink Your Teeth Into, a collection of scary children's stories published in 2010 by Scholastic.

Awards and honors Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement (2024)

Awards for specific works The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 Coretta Scott King Honor Book Newbery Honor Book

Bud, Not Buddy Newbery Medal winner Coretta Scott King Author Award SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner

Mr. Chickee's Funny Money Parent's Choice Gold Award winner

Bucking the Sarge SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Fiction Honor Book

Elijah of Buxton Newbery Honor Book Coretta Scott King Award winner Scott O'Dell Award Canadian Library Association Book of the Year