Carmen Bogan

Carmen Bogan is a children’s author, publisher, and frequent lecturer to nonprofit organizations leaders. Her picture book, Where’s Rodney? (Yosemite Conservancy, 2017) , illustrated by the award-winning Floyd Cooper, was a Kirkus Best Picture Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild selection, and received starred reviews from Booklist and  Kirkus Reviews. The sequel to Tasha’s Voice will be published by Yosemite Conservancy in April 2024. Willis Watson Is a Wannabe, illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday, will be published by Simon & Schuster/Denene Miller Books in February 2024.

Carmen is a recipient of the New Voices Award from Lee & Low Books. A staunch literacy advocate, Carmen believes that all children deserve to read about characters that reflect their own lives, dreams, and cultures. In 2015, she launched Dream On Publishing, a boutique publisher of multicultural children’s books, releasing the picture book, Granny, Who Is God?, which she also authored.

Carmen is a member of the Oakland Literacy Coalition and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she is a board member of Arts for Oakland Kids. She is an alumna of Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, Willie. She has two adult daughters, Erin Danielle and Natalie Quinn.