Some heartwarming news out of Washington, via Islesford. Little Cranberry Island’s most famous resident, the painter and children’s author and illustrator Ashley Bryan, has been awarded the Coretta Scott King and Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement by the American Library Association. He has won the yearly Coretta Scott King Award for children’s literature nine times before, but this time, the ALA decided to honor him permanently. As the ALA describes Bryan, who has lived in Islesford for more than 30 years,

Storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, Bryan created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story.

Click here for a video interview with Ashley Bryan