Nikki Grimes The Poetry Zone
Nikki Grimes The Poetry Zone
Nikki Grimes The Poetry Zone

Nikki’s Speaking Engagements

Places I’m Going

In-Person Events 2026

12 June 2026
Rhode Island Cen­ter for the Book
Sum­mer Read­ing Pro­gram Kick­off
Prov­i­dence, RI

11–12 July 2026
Colum­bus Book Fes­ti­val
Colum­bus, OH

26 Sep­tem­ber 2026
Chap­paqua Chil­dren’s Book Fes­ti­val
Chap­paqua, NY

17 Octo­ber 2026
South­ern Fes­ti­val of Books
Nashville, TN

22 Octo­ber 2026
Pega­sus Awards/The Poet­ry Foun­da­tion
Chica­go, IL

7 Novem­ber 2026
Rochester Chil­dren’s Book Fes­ti­val
Rochester, NY

Co-authors Stacy Wells and Nikki Grimes with their book Stronger Than
Co-authors Sta­cy Wells and Nik­ki Grimes hold­ing our book Stronger Than at NCTE (2025). The book is illus­trat­ed by E.B. Lewis.

Places I’ve Been

In-Person Events 2026

Feb­ru­ary 7
The African Amer­i­can Chil­dren’s Book Fair
Philadel­phia, PA

Feb­ru­ary 24–25
Wm. and Mary Conference

March 5–8
Char­lotte Huck Con­fer­ence
Red­lands, CA

March 28–31
Texas Library Asso­ci­a­tion
Hous­ton, TX

18 April 2026
Los Ange­les Times Book Fes­ti­val
Los Ange­les CA

29 May 2026
Amer­i­can Library of Paris
Paris, France

Blog Tour 2025 for A Cup of Quiet

April 7
Brown Book­shelf

April 8
Imag­i­na­tion Soup

April 9
Cyn­sa­tions

April 10
Bookol­o­gy

April 11
Poet­ry for Children

April 14
Prag­mat­ic Mom

April 15
Diverse Verse

In-Person Events 2025

March 9
Trin­i­ty Epis­co­pal Cathe­dral
Port­land, OR

April 12
Chris­tian­i­ty Today’s Inkwell Night
Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty
River­side, CA

April 19
Down­towne Book­store
River­side, CA

April 22
Pow­ell’s Book­store
Port­land, OR

May 3
Hud­son Val­ley Books for Human­i­ty
Ossin­ing, NY

June 26–30 2025
ALA
Philadel­phia

July 11 2025
Sym­po­sium on Books for Young Read­ers
Pro­vo, UT

Novem­ber 20–23 2025
NCTE
Den­ver, CO

Ms. Grimes no longer offers in-per­son or vir­tu­al school vis­its or poet­ry workshops.

Ms. Grimes writes, “I have enjoyed vis­it­ing with stu­dents, over the years, both in per­son and via Skype and Zoom. How­ev­er, I am find­ing it increas­ing­ly chal­leng­ing to do school vis­its and meet my writ­ing dead­lines so I have decid­ed to give up school vis­its. More than any­thing, I want to make sure I have time to write more books for my read­ers to enjoy. Some­how, I think my read­ers want that, too.”

If you are inter­est­ed in book­ing Ms. Grimes for a con­fer­ence, send Ms. Grimes an e‑mail.

Brian Pinkney and me keynoting at ABA
Bri­an Pinkney and me keynot­ing at ABA. We talked about the book A Walk in the Woods.
Nikki Grimes school presentations
I love col­lect­ing hugs at the end of school pre­sen­ta­tions, like this one at a school in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.
School Librarians
So grate­ful for school librar­i­ans like Susan Bloom, Mary­Beth Kurspahic and Cur­rie Ren­wick of the Capi­tol School Dis­trict in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. They help bring chil­dren and books togeth­er. What would authors do with­out them?
Father and Son reading poem
Here’s a one-of-a-kind moment at Sum­mit Coun­try Day School, in Cincin­nati. A father and son per­formed “A Les­son From the Deaf”, from Thanks a Mil­lion. The poem is about say­ing thank you in sign lan­guage, and this pair brought my poem to life! Wow.
Nikki Grimes autographing books
When I was a child, I was­n’t allowed to write in a book. Now, I’m asked to sign books all the time! So fun.
A school visit in Singapore in 2023.
a school vis­it in Sin­ga­pore in 2023