About
TONYA DUNCAN ELLIS writes picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels, and successfully self-published the 13-book SOPHIE WASHINGTON chapter series, which has sold over 175,000 copies. Her debut picture book, THEY BUILT ME FOR FREEDOM, releases through HarperCollins, Balzer+Bray in May 2024. A diversity advocate, Tonya is a member of the Brown Bookshelf’s Highlights Foundation-sponsored Amplify Black Stories cohort and serves on faculty at Highlights. She is a 2024 RB Rising Stars Mentor and a 2023 We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) Black Creatives Mentor. Tonya is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She presented on marketing for SCBWI’s 2023 Winter Conference in New York City and is a winner of SCBWI’s 2022 Independently Published Book Marketing Grant and SCBWI Austin’s 2021 Cynthia Leitich Smith Writing Mentor Award. Tonya founded and hosts the Write This! Instagram Live show, featuring bestselling and award-winning authors, illustrators and publishing professionals. She is represented by Sara Megibow of kt literary and lives in Houston, Texas.
Featured Work
They Built Me for Freedom
A moving picture book about the history of Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas—and the origins of Juneteenth.
When people visit me, they are free—to run, play, gather, and rejoice.
They built me to remember.
On June 19, 1865, the 250,000 enslaved people of Texas learned they were free, ending slavery in the United States. This day was soon to be memorialized with the dedication of a park in Houston. The park was called Emancipation Park, and the day it honored would come to be known as Juneteenth.
In the voice and memory of the park itself—its fields and pools, its protests and cookouts, and, most of all, its people—the 150-year story of Emancipation Park is brought to life. Through lyrical text and vibrant artwork, Tonya Duncan Ellis and Jenin Mohammed have crafted an ode to the struggle, triumph, courage, and joy of Black America—and the promise of a people to remember.
Other Works
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Sophie Washington: Treasure Beach
2022
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Sophie Washington: Lemonade Day
2021
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Sophie Washington: Class Retreat
2020
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Sophie Washington: My BFF
2020
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Sophie Washington: Mismatch
2019
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Sophie Washington: Code One
2019
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Sophie Washington: Secret Santa
2018
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Sophie Washington: Mission: Costa Rica
2018
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Sophie Washington: Hurricane
2017
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Sophie Washington: The Gamer
2017
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Sophie Washington: Things You Didn't Know About Sophie
2016
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Sophie Washington: The Snitch
2015
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Sophie Washington: Queen of the Bee
2014
Awards and Recognition
- SCBWI’s 2022 Independently Published Book Marketing Grant; SCBWI Austin’s 2021 Cynthia Leitich Smith Writing Mentor Award
