Alice Faye Duncan

ALICE FAYE DUNCAN is a National Board Library Media Specialist who writes for young learners. Since 1995, she has written 14 picture books that are celebrated for vivid imagery and musical lyricism.

Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop received a Coretta Scott King Honor Medal for Illustrations in 2019. Yellow Dog Blues was a New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Picture Book in 2022. Evicted was a Bank Street Best Book Selection in 2022. Coretta’s Journey was a 2023 Horn Book Fanfare Selection. And in the Fall of 2023, Alice was featured on Good Morning America to speak about children, grief, and the solace found in her recent book, This Train is Bound for Glory.

Alice served as a school librarian in the city of Memphis for 30 years. She earned her first job and wrote her first picture book in 1992. However, her serious intention to write professionally began in Knoxville during Library School when she served as a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee for professor—Glenn Estes. His legendary passion for picture books, music, and sartorial elegance was infectious. With each picture book, Alice writes in memory of his light.

As a motivational speaker and historian, Alice travels the nation, speaking to children and adults about the American Civil Rights Movement as it happened from 1955 to 1968. Her Juneteenth book, OPAL LEE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE is a bestseller, having sold 100,000 copies since January 2022.

Alice Faye has been featured and reviewed in publications like the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Black Enterprise, and Ebony Magazine. While she is retired from teaching and travels for research and writing, Memphis remains her home.