Ekua Holmes author page

Ekua Holmes biography

Ekua Holmes is an American artist, illustrator, and curator known for her work in children’s literature and community arts. She is recognized for her vibrant collage illustrations, which often draw on themes of family, community, and African American history. Holmes grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and her experiences there have influenced much of her artistic work.

Holmes illustrated the picture book Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Candlewick Press in 2015. This book received a Caldecott Honor and won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award in 2016. She has also illustrated Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth, which won the 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award.

In addition to her illustration work, Holmes has served as a curator and advocate for the arts in Boston. She has been involved with the Boston Arts Commission and has worked to promote public art and support for artists in her community. Holmes’s collage art has been exhibited in galleries and museums, and she continues to contribute to children’s literature and the visual arts.

In 2021, Holmes illustrated Hope Is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese-American Poet Kahlil Gibran, written by Cory McCarthy and published by Candlewick Press.