Rio Cortez

Rio Cortez is a New York Times best-selling author of both adult and children’s literature. She is a graduate of the MFA program at New York University, and a Pushcart-nominated poet who has received fellowships from Poet's House, Cave Canem, and Canto Mundo Foundations. Rio has been the recipient of the Sarah Lawrence College Lucy Grealy Prize in Poetry, a Poets & Writers Amy Award, and a Jerome Foundation grant. Descended from a Black Utah pioneering family, the Howells, Rio was born and raised in Salt Lake City. She now lives, writes, and works in Harlem.

Work

Bibliography

The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) — Picture Book
Golden Ax (Penguin, 2022) — Poetry
The River Is My Sea (S&S, 2023) — Picture Book

Links

• "2 Picture Books Celebrate the Poetry and Promise of Black Lives," The New York Times Book Review
• In Their Own Words: Poetry Society of America, "Rio Cortez on 'UFO, For Instance'"
• "How Black Parents Survived 2020," The New York Times