Don Tate

Don is an award-winning illustrator of numerous children's books, including The Day Madear Voted and Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters, No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas, Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, and many others.

He is also the award-winning author of Jerry Changed The Game: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever, William Still and His Freedom Stories: Father of the Underground Railroad, Strong As Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became The Strongest Man on Earth, and others.

Don is passionate about preserving the stories of lesser-known historical figures, often focusing on African Americans whose histories have been marginalized. Additionally, Don is a founding host of The Brown Bookshelf, a blog dedicated to raising awareness of African Americans who create books for young readers. He frequently speaks at schools, public libraries, and writing conferences and participates in book festivals.

His forthcoming books include Prince: A Little Golden Book Biography (Penguin Random House, Feb. 2026), written by Nikki Shannon Smith and illustrated by him, and A Poem for Dudley Randall: Poet and Publisher of the Black Arts Movement (Abrams, Aug. 2026), written by him and illustrated by Laura Freeman.