Press Kit

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Short Bio

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the award-winning author of many critically acclaimed books for young readers including Before She was Harriet, Overground Railroad, Game Changers:  The Story of Venus and Serena Williams and Fighting With Love:  The Legacy of John Lewis.  Her numerous honors include the Jane Addams Honor Award, the Christopher Award, Kirkus, and SLJ Best Book of Year and three NAACP Image Award nominations.  Her middle grade novel Finding Langston received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.  When not writing, Lesa loves eating chocolate and napping.   

A mom to four wonderful humans, Lesa lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband and frequent collaborator, illustrator James Ransome.

Long Bio

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of numerous non-fiction and historical fiction titles for picture book, chapter book, middle grade and young adult readers and her work has been named to ALA Notable Books and Bank Street Best Children’s Book lists. 

Her verse picture book biography of Harriet Tubman, Before She Was Harriet was nominated for an NAACP image award and received a Jane Addams Honor, Christopher Award and Coretta Scott King Honor for Illustration.  Her middle grade novel, Finding Langston, won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and received the Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor.  The companion novels Leaving Lymon and Being Clem complete the Finding Langston trilogy.  For Lamb, her debut YA historical fiction novel set in Jim Crow Mississippi was a New York Public Library and Bank Street Best Children’s Book.

A 2023 MacDowell Fellow, Lesa’s books has received numerous honors and awards including NAACP Awards, Kirkus Best Book, SLJ Best Book, CBC Choice Awards, two Top 10 Sports Books for Youth,  and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Book. Lesa is the 2022 North Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Legacy Award recipient.  

She is currently a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Advisory Council member and host of KidLitTV's Past Present: Giving Past Stories New Life. 

She lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband and frequent collaborator, James Ransome and their family.  Visit her at www.lesaclineransome.com.