Paul Volponi is a writer, educator, and journalist living in New York City. He is the author of twelve novels for young adults and the recipient of twelve American Library Association Honors. Black and White is the winner of the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award. That novel of social justice was inspired by the six years the author worked on Rikers Island, teaching incarcerated teens to read and write. The Final Four, about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, received five starred reviews and is on the New York City Chancellor’s Ninth-Grade Reading List (NYC Reads 365). Top Prospect, a middle-grade novel about an eighth grader given an early college football scholarship, is part of Scholastic’s nationwide book club. The author’s first nonfiction book, That’s My Team! The History, Science, and Fun behind Sports Teams’ Names (also published by Rowman & Littlefield) was the subject of an extended article in the August 2019 edition of VOYA, the nation’s premier journal for librarians.
Volponi holds an MA in American literature from the City College of New York and a BA in English from Baruch. You can read excerpts from all his YA works, discover their origins, and read the author’s notes at http://paulvolponibooks.com or visit him on Facebook.