Patricia McKissack is an American children's writer. She is the author of three Dear America books: A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North, and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl. She has also written a novel for The Royal Diaries series: Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba. Patricia currently lives in St. Louis. Her husband, Frederick McKissack, with whom she co-won the Regina Medal in 1998, died in April of 2013 at the age of 73; before marrying her and joining her in writing full time, he had an accomplished career as a U.S. Marine, a civil engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and had owned a contracting business in the St. Louis area. Patricia McKissack is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries. 

August 9th, 1944 in Smyrna  /  Died:   Apr 7th, 2017 - cardiorespiratory arrest, aged 72