Common Reading 2020: The Hate U Give: Common Reading 2020: The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas was raised and still remains, in Jackson, Mississippi. From a young age, she was drawn to storytelling. At the age of six, she was caught amidst gunfire in her neighborhood while out riding her bike. After that traumatic experience, Angie turned to books to escape into another world, soon using her own imagination to write stories. Knowing budding talent when she saw it, her third-grade teacher asked Angie to read one of her stories to the class every Friday after lunchtime. 

Angie Thomas was also a teen rapper—a feature in her second novel, On the Come Up. She is a B.F.A. graduate from Belhaven University where she studied creative writing. Thomas won the very first We Need Diverse Books' Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded in 2015. (Adapted author's website)

• Interview with Angie Thomas from HarperCollins Podcast
• The Hate U Give author Angie Thomas explores racism, police violence and being Black in America [NPR]