2025 SESSION

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 779

Commending Kwame Alexander.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 18, 2025

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander, a celebrated children's author, poet, and educator, was presented Male Author of the Year and Poetry Book of the Year awards at the African Americans on the Move Book Club Awards in 2024; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander is a Chesapeake native and a seventh-generation Virginian who is the descendant of an African American patriot and hero who served with the Union Army during the Civil War; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander was inspired to pursue a career in writing after studying under the famed poet Nikki Giovanni at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander has authored numerous books that have earned prestigious accolades such as the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, a Coretta Scott King Award honor book, NAACP Image Award nominations, and the inaugural Conroy Legacy Award; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander achieved great acclaim for his verse novel, The Crossover, which was adapted for the screen and premiered on the Disney Channel and the Disney+ streaming service in April 2023; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Alexander launched Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, in 2019 to promote awareness of diverse and unconventional authors and to connect them with a wider readership; and

WHEREAS, in addition to his African Americans on the Move Book Club honors, Kwame Alexander was also presented an honorary doctorate from American University in 2024 in recognition of his extraordinary impact on the American literary canon; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Kwame Alexander hereby be commended for receiving Male Author of the Year and Poetry Book of the Year awards at the African Americans on the Move Book Club Awards in 2024; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Kwame Alexander as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for his remarkable literary contributions and best wishes for his continued success.