Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes

Nikki’s Speaking Engagements

Places I’m Going

2023

March 27
Abbey of the Arts
Ireland/Virtual
7–8pm Ire­land, 2–3 East­ern, 11am-12pm Pacific

April 1
St. Mary’s Col­lege
San Fran­cis­co

April 27
Mass­a­chu­setts Read­ers Asso­ci­a­tion Con­fer­ence
Boston

May 6
Hud­son Chil­dren’s Book Fes­ti­val
Hud­son, NY

May 21–31
Asian Fes­ti­val of Chil­dren’s Con­tent
Sin­ga­pore

May 29
Aus­tralian Intl. School and
Stam­ford Amer­i­can
Sin­ga­pore

June 7
Keynote at ABA
Mil­wau­kee, WI

June 22–27
ALA Fea­tured Speak­er
Chica­go

July 13
Anne V. Zarrow Award Accep­tance
Tul­sa, Oklahoma

Sep­tem­ber 12
Cel­lar Door Books
River­side, CA

Sep­tem­ber 23
Black Authors Hall of Fame Induc­tion
Harlem Book Fes­ti­val
New York, NY

Sep­tem­ber 28
Books of Won­der
New York, NY

Sep­tem­ber 30
Brook­lyn Book Fes­ti­val
Brook­lyn, NY

Octo­ber 7
Pic­ture Book Sum­mit
Vir­tu­al

Octo­ber 21
Boston Book Fes­ti­val
Boston, MA

Octo­ber 26
Leather­stock­ing Con­fer­ence
Uti­ca, NY

Novem­ber 18–19
NCTE
Colum­bus, OH

Novem­ber 25
Flintridge Book­store
La Cana­da, CA

Nikki Grimes at ALA signing Danitra Brown Leaves Town
Pho­to at left: Sign­ing Dan­i­tra for a young read­er at the 2015 ALA Con­fer­ence in San Fran­cis­co, CA.

Places I’ve Been

2021

Jan­u­ary 29
3pm CST
Nik­ki Spilling All the Tea on All Things Enter­tain­ing
Apple Pod­cast

Feb­ru­ary 25
7pm EST
Write to Learn Vir­tu­al Authors’ Series
Write to Learn Con­fer­ence
Reg­is­tra­tion info:

Feb­ru­ary 26
11:15am CST
Nation­al African Amer­i­can Read-in Day
Dal­las ISD, Fol­lett School Solu­tions and PRH

March 4
1:15 EST
Author Assem­bly
Holt Pub­lic Schools, Holt Equi­ty & Access
Live-streamed on Holt Pub­lic School YouTube Channel

March 11
9:30am PST
Sil­i­con Val­ley Reads/School Pro­gram
San­ta Clara Coun­ty Library

March 13
Sil­i­con Val­ley Reads/Library Pro­gram
San­ta Clara Library

March 19   
4pm PST
Con­fer­ence keynote
Asso­ci­a­tion of Teach­ers of English-Quebec

March 27   
11:30 EST
Sat­ur­day Morn­ing with Joy Keys
Apple Pod­cast

April 10
San Anto­nio Book Festival

April 23      
3pm CST
Char­ac­ters Who Speak Truth to Pow­er
TLA San Anto­nio, TX

April 30      
7:30pm EST
Find­ing Joy in the Jour­ney:
A Con­ver­sa­tion with Jane Yolen
NESCBWI

2020

Edu­ca­tion­al Book & Media Asso­ci­a­tion
Puer­to Rico
Jan. 7–10

Nation­al Read­ing Recov­ery Con­fer­ence
Colum­bus, OH
Feb. 10–11

Hubbs Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture Fes­ti­val
Min­neapo­lis, MN
Feb. 15

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.

Sharon Draper Nikki Giovanni Nikki Grimes
ALA is a great place to recon­nect with fel­low authors and friends, Sharon Drap­er and Nik­ki Giovanni.
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.
School book club
A school book club. What could be bet­ter? They enjoyed read­ing The Road to Paris togeth­er and had some great ques­tions for me.