Cicely Lewis

Named the 2020 National Librarian of the Year by School Library Journal and Scholastic,  a 2019 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and the 2019 National Teacher Award for Lifelong Readers by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Penguin Random House (PRH) , Cicely Lewis is a school librarian with a passion for creating lovers of reading.  In 2017, she started the Read Woke challenge in response to social injustices occurring across the world, and the lack of diversity in young adult literature. Her students were required to read books that challenge the social norm and give voice to the silenced.   Using this platform, she had inspired the nation to Read Woke with educators from Quebec to the UK  joining in and sharing the movement with their students. This inspired Lewis to create Tech Woke an initiative that challenges students to use technology to solve social justice issues found in books.  A native of Mississippi, she currently resides in Georgia with her Anime loving husband, Michael and two rambunctious children, Tristan and Trinity. When she is not reading, you can find Cicely writing for her bi-monthly column in the School Library Journal where she shares her book recommendations.  Her writing was recently featured in the 20th Anniversary Edition of Walter Dean Myers  145th Street Short Stories.  Check out her Read Woke book series available Fall 2021. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @cicelythegreat or check out her website www.readwoke.com.