McKissack, Patricia (1944-2017), was an American children’s author known for her books on African American subjects, especially history and biography. McKissack wrote more than 100 books, many with her husband, Fredrick L. McKissack (1939-2013).
Fredrick and Patricia McKissack won Coretta Scott King Awards in 1990 for A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter (1989) and in 1995 for Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (1994). By herself, Patricia won the 1993 award for Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (1992), illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Her Never Forgotten (2011) was a 2012 Coretta Scott King Honor Book. The McKissacks shared the 2014 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award. The Coretta Scott King awards honor African American writers and illustrators of books for children.
The McKissacks wrote many biographies in the “Great African Americans” series. They also worked together on children’s books with religious themes. Patricia wrote picture books, including Mirandy and Brother Wind (1988) and Goin’ Someplace Special (2001), both illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. She also wrote the songbook and story collection Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out: Games, Songs, and Stories from an African American Childhood (2017), illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Her picture book What Is Given from the Heart was published in 2019, after her death. The illustrator April Harrison won the 2020 Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award for New Talent for her illustration of the book.
Patricia L’Ann Carwell was born on Aug. 9, 1944, in Smyrna, Tennessee, near Nashville. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University in 1964 and a master’s degree from Webster University in 1975. She and Fredrick married in 1964. Patricia McKissack died on April 7, 2017.
