**Kwame Mbalia *is the New York Times best-selling author of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky,for which he received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor award. The book was also named to best-of-the-year lists compiled by Publishers Weekly *, the Chicago Public Library, and the * New York Times...

**Kwame Mbalia *is the New York Times best-selling author of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky,for which he received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor award. The book was also named to best-of-the-year lists compiled by Publishers Weekly *, the Chicago Public Library, and the * New York Times.The second book in the trilogy is Tristan Strong Destroys the World *, and Tristan Strong Keeps Punching is the third. Kwame also co-wrote Last Gate of the Emperor with Prince Joel Makonnen and edited the instant New York Times best-seller Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood. Kwame lives with his wife and children near Raleigh, North Carolina, where he is currently working several projects, including a new middle grade series. Follow him on Twitter @KSekouM.