Noa Denmon

Noa Denmon (born 1995 or 1996) is an American illustrator. She received a Caldecott Honor in 2021 for illustrating the picture book A Place Inside of Me, written by Zetta Elliott.

Early life and education Denmon was born in Greenfield, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1995 or 1996. She attended the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, where she developed an interest in the visual arts and graduated in 2014. After high school, she studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2018 and a master's degree in art education in 2019.

Career In 2019, Denmon illustrated the picture book A Place Inside of Me, written by Zetta Elliott and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in July 2020. Denmon received a Caldecott Honor on January 25, 2021, for her illustrations for the book, which depict a Black child's reaction to the police killing a girl in his community. Denmon initially created a young female protagonist for the first-person narrator; after further deliberations with Elliott, the protagonist was modified to be an older boy. Denmon's artwork, which was in shades of blue, pale yellow, and mauve, was received positively by critics. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly praised Denmon's "textured, dynamic illustrations" of a diverse Black community and her depictions of influential Black figures throughout history. It was inspired by the George Floyd protests in 2020 and Denmon's experiences as a Black woman.

Denmon illustrated the 2025 children's book by Connie and Peter Roop entitled Maya Angelou Finds Her Voice, which Publishers Weekly described as a "sensitively rendered biography of Maya Angelou".

Personal life As of 2021, Denmon lives in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.