Collier, Bryan (1967-…), is an African American children’s illustrator and author known for his books on African American themes. As an illustrator, Collier has won praise for his collage style, which combines cut paper, painted images, and photographs.
Collier has won six Coretta Scott King Awards for his illustrations. He won the 2001 award for Uptown (2000); the 2006 award for Rosa (2005); the 2011 award for Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave (2010); the 2013 award for I, Too, Am America (2012); the 2014 award for Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me (2013); and the 2016 award for Trombone Shorty (2015). The Coretta Scott King Awards annually honor African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books that portray the Black experience for young readers.
Uptown, which Collier also wrote, is a colorful portrait of life in the African American neighborhood of Harlem in New York City as seen through the eyes of a young boy. Rosa, written by Nikki Giovanni, is a biography of the civil rights leader Rosa Parks and one of several biographies of noted African Americans Collier has illustrated. Dave the Potter, written by Laban Carrick Hill, describes the work of a gifted potter who was an enslaved man in South Carolina during the 1800’s. In Trombone Shorty, Troy Andrews tells about his life as a New Orleans jazz musician. Collier also illustrated Freedom River (2000) and Martin’s Big Words (2001), both written by Doreen Rappaport; Visiting Langston (2002), written by Willie Perdomo; Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope (2008), written by Nikki Grimes; City Shapes (2016), written by Diana Murray; Hey Black Child (2017), written by Useni Eugene Perkins; Maya’s Song (2022), written by Renée Watson; and We Are Here (2023), written by Tami Charles.
Collier was born in Salisbury, Maryland, on Jan. 31, 1967. He received a B.F.A. degree from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 1989. Collier served as the program director of the Horizon Art Studio from 1989 to 2000. The studio teaches children and teenagers how to express themselves through art.
