Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lesa Cline-Ransome is the award-winning author of numerous non-fiction and historical fiction titles for picture book, chapter book, middle grade and young adult readers. 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. Finding Langston, the first in the Finding Langston trilogy, was the winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and received the Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. Her picture book, They Call Me Teach, received the 2025 Jane Addams Award. Her MG novel-in-verse, One Big Open Sky, was recipient of the Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor, as well as being named a Best Book of 2024 by Kirkus, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times. For Lamb, her debut YA historical fiction novel set in Jim Crow Mississippi, received four starred reviews and appeared on numerous Best of the Year lists.

A MacDowell Fellow and 2022 NAIBA Legacy recipient, Lesa has received numerous honors and awards including the NAACP Award, Kirkus Best Book, New York Public Library Best Book, SLJ Best Book, ALA Notable, CBC Choice Awards, two Top 10 Sports Books for Youth, and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Book.

She is currently an 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. They are parents of four incredible humans.

https://www.lesaclineransome.com/