Irene Latham author page

Irene Latham biography

Irene Latham is a poet and novelist whose work for young readers includes poetry, picture books and historical fiction. Her books include A Good Morning for Giddo, African Town, Twelve Days of Kindness, Snail’s Ark, The Cat Man of Aleppo, Meet Miss Fancy, If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility, Come In! Come In!, Fresh Delicious, This Poem Is a Nest, D-39 and Nine.

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship was written by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko, and published in paperback by Rock the Boat on 7 January 2020. The book is a story told through linked poems about a fifth-grade poetry project, using the fictional pairing of Irene and Charles to explore race, identity, hair, hobbies and family dinners for younger readers.

The Cat Man of Aleppo was written by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers on 14 April 2020. The picture book tells the true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who gave safe haven to abandoned cats during the Syrian Civil War, and it received a Caldecott Honor and won the 2020 Middle East Book Award.

African Town was written by Charles Waters and Irene Latham and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, with the ebook and audiobook released on 4 January 2022 and the paperback on 24 January 2023. The young adult historical novel-in-verse tells the story of 110 people from Benin and Nigeria who were illegally taken to Mobile, Alabama, aboard the Clotilda in 1860, and it won the 2023 Scott O’Dell Award.