Coretta Scott King Award given to N.C. illustrator for work on children's book

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina artist is getting some national recognition.

Dare Coulter is the 2024 Illustrator Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for her work in the book “An American Story” by Kwame Alexander.

This award acknowledges books by Black authors and illustrators who reflect on the Black experience.

“People’s lives are changing on these live streams, and it just so happens that this year I was like one of those lives that got changed,” Coulter said.

Coulter is an artist, muralist, illustrator and sculptor. She said winning this award goes to show that her work is paying off.

“I just think it’s really special that people care about my work like this, that people care about the book that we created, that they look at Kwame’s words and they look at my pictures together and they say this is important,” Coulter said.

In “An American Story,” the book addresses the realities of slavery in a way that is accessible to kids.

“This is an important manuscript. It’s wild that it was Kwame Alexander’s as well because it’s just like that doesn’t happen, Beyonce doesn’t just call you and say, ‘hey, like first album,’ but you know, that’s the metaphor I make for people because if you know of him and of his work you know that it is valid,” Coulter said.

Coulter said through her work it’s important to uplift Black people, to tell the past tragedies but also, the resilience.

“The set of knowledge that you receive when people talk about American history starting with slavery, in a lot of curriculums the beginning of Black history is Black people as enslaved and not Black people in Africa, Black people in kingdoms where you have excellence in technology and science,” Coulter said.

Although Coulter won the 2024 Illustrator Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, she has many more projects ahead that she’s working on.

Coulter attended N.C. State University, as well as Meredith College. She said her sculptures are her favorite kind of art to create, and she hopes to make some large ones in the future.