Valerie Wilson Wesley

Ms.Wesley's fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children have appeared in many publications, including Essence, Family Circle, TV Guide, Ms, Creative Classroom, and The New York Times, and Weltwoche, a Swiss weekly newspaper. She is also a 1993 recipient of the Griot Award from the New York Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and has received numerous awards from national reading groups. In 1996, she was voted Author of the Year by the Go On Girl! Book Club. Ms.Wesley is also a former executive editor of Essence magazine.

Ms. Wesley is a former board member of Sisters of Crime, a professional organization committed to fighting discrimination against women writing mysteries. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey and the YWCA of North Essex. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Newark Arts Council in Newark, New Jersey. Ms. Wesley is a graduate of Howard University and has masters degrees from both the Banks Street College of Education and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She is married to noted screenwriter and playwright Richard Wesley and is the mother of two grown daughters.