A Song for August: The Inspiring Life of Playwright August Wilson

Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3

An ode to one of America's foremost Black playwrights, August Wilson, and a meditation on culture, erasure, and what ultimately drives an artist's desire to create.

An ode to one of America's foremost Black playwrights, August Wilson, and a meditation on culture, erasure, and what ultimately drives an artist's desire to create.

August Wilson grew up open to the creative inspiration in everything he encountered: in library books, in music, in artworks, in the lively conversations overheard in the restaurants and barbershops lining the Pittsburgh neighborhood of his childhood. August paid attention. He listened. And when he got older, he got ideas about what to do with everything he’d seen and heard — ideas that would make him one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

About the Author

Sally Denmead is an opera singer, director, and actor who moved from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh, where she fell in love with the plays of August Wilson. This is her first book.

Author Residency: Pittsburgh, PA

Alleanna Harris is a children's book illustrator and artist. As a kid, she would doodle on notebooks in school and on programs in church. She graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in animation with honors. Harris lives in New Jersey.

llustrator Residency: New Jersey