Breakfast Keynote – Kwame Alexander, "The Idea Business: A Life Spent Writing and Selling Books"

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author of 21 books, and the recipient of the 2015 John Newbery Medal for his novel The Crossover. His next book is Surf's Up, a picture book from NorthSouth Books. The founder of two literacy organizations, Book-in-a-Day and LEAP for Ghana, he regularly travels the world conducting writing/publishing workshops at schools and conferences. Kwame has owned several publishing companies, written for stage and television (TLC’s Hip Hop Harry), recorded a CD, produced jazz and book festivals, hosted a radio show, worked for the U.S. government, and taught high school. In 2015, Kwame served as the Bank Street College of Education’s first writer-in-residence. Visit him at KwameAlexander.com.