OUR TEAM

President & Founder

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, Emmy® Award-winning producer, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Kwame is also the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Writer of the Emmy-award winning series The Crossover, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023, produced in partnership with LeBron James' SpringHill Company and Big Sea Entertainment. 

Kwame was recently appointed as the Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts for Chautauqua Literary Arts, and also serves as their Inaugural​ Writer-in-Residence. A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the creator and host of the Why Fathers Cry podcast featuring conversations about love and parenting and loss, with fathers and sons. He regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing around the world at events like the Chautauqua Lecture Series, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Aspen Ideas, and the Global Literacy Symposium in Ghana, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana. His mission is to change the world, one word at a time. Find him online at KwameAlexander.com.

Partner & Executive Producer

Arielle Eckstut is an author and entrepreneur who creates new ideas and businesses that are more inclusive, creative, and inspiring. She started her career as a literary agent at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency where she launched the careers of dozens of award-winning and bestselling authors. She then co-founded LittleMissMatched, a revolutionary company that sold socks that don’t match in packs of threes, opening stores everywhere from Disney World to Grand Central Station. After co-authoring The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published with her husband, David Henry Sterry, they traveled to 46 states with their signature event, Pitchapalooza. The event is the cornerstone of America’s Next Great Author, a Big Sea project in partnership with Can Do Entertainment, which Arielle also co-founded.  Arielle is the author of 11 books and has been featured in, among others, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, USA Today and NPR’s Morning Edition.