Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lesa Cline-Ransome
EducationPratt Institute (BFA)
New York University (MA)
SpouseJames E. Ransome
Children4
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
Years active2003–present
GenresMiddle grade fiction, picture books
Notable worksFinding Langston
Before She Was Harriet
Notable awardsScott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction (2019)
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award (2025) Newbery Honor Award ( 2025)
Websitewww.lesaclineransome.com

Lesa Cline-Ransome (née Cline) is an American author of picture books and middle grade novels, best known for her NAACP Image Award-nominated picture book biography of Harriet Tubman, Before She Was Harriet and her middle grade novel Finding Langston.

Personal life

Cline-Ransome grew up in Malden, Massachusetts. Both her parents are nurses and she is the youngest of three siblings.

She decided she wanted to become a writer during middle school and completed a summer workshop for teens with an interest in journalism at Suffolk University. She ultimately decided that journalism wasn't for her and stopped wanting to become a writer until she received encouragement from her professors while studying at Pratt Institute. There, she worked for the college paper and took on a job in advertising. She went to New York University for graduate school in Elementary Education.

She didn't pick up her interest in writing until she married her husband, James Ransome, who encouraged her to write books for children while he was working on illustrating his own first novel. She researched for nearly a year after the birth of her first child before an editor at Simon & Schuster took a chance on what would later become her first published picture book, Satchel Paige.

She lives with her husband and four children in Rhinebeck, New York.

Works

Middle grade One Big Open Sky (Holiday House)

Picture books

They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom ( Candlewick Press) illustrated by James Ransome “Fighting with Live: The Legacy of John Lewis” ( Simon & Schuster) illustrated by James Ransome

Awards

Nominated

Won

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "B is for Bio". www.lesaclineransome.com. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  2. ↑ "James Ransome". Workshops for Children's Authors & Illustrators | Highlights Foundation. 2016-06-30. Archived from the original on 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  3. ↑ Books, Harambee (2018-01-22). "2018 NAACP Image Awards: List of Winners". Harambee Books & Artworks. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  4. ↑ "American Library Association announces 2025 Youth Media Award winners | ALA". www.ala.org. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  5. ↑ "2025 Winners and Honors | Coretta Scott King Roundtable". www.ala.org. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  6. ↑ "Book Award - Jane Addams Peace Association". 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  7. ↑ "Mathical Book Prizes 2021" (PDF).
  8. ↑ admin (2009-01-18). "The Coretta Scott King Book Awards". Round Tables. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  9. ↑ "CCBC Booklists". Cooperative Children's Book Center. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  10. ↑ "2018 Award Winners and Honorees". The Jane Addams Peace Association. 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-12.