Nadia

Salomon

Award-Winning Journalist

Children’s Author

Travels from: Seattle, WA

“Nadia Salomon’s Goodnight Ganesha reminds readers that saying goodnight is both universal and unique and that all children deserve bedtime books that reflect their experiences and culture.” — Hallee Adelman, author of My Quiet Ship

Nadia Salomon is an award-winning journalist and children’s author. She holds a journalism and public policy degree from Emerson College. Her award-winning bedtime picture book, Goodnight Ganesha is illustrated by Poonam Mistry, is a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, an ALSC Día Selection, and #NCTEWow Poetry Honor book.

A Voice of Hope is her acclaimed release. It is illustrated by London Ladd. It is the first picture book biography written about unsung social activist, Myrlie Evers-Williams. It received a 2025 SCBWI Crystal Kite Honor Award, the 2025 BCALA, SLJ Children and Youth Literary Award for non-fiction, a 2025 Notable Social Studies Trade Book Award, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book Award, a #PADIBA Commended Book, and earned two starred reviews from SLJ and the Horn Book. Nadia’s third title, A Rakhi for Rakesh, is illustrated by Nabi H. Ali. It is a sibling story set against the summer holiday of Raksha Bandhan.

She works closely with SCBWI, 12×12 Challenge, Kids Comics Unite, and on faculty with Storyteller Academy. When Nadia’s not teaching or spinning yarns, you’ll most likely find her blogging about her favorite reads at Nadia’s Nook.

Nadia's Featured Titles

Reading Pictures to Tell a Story

In this presentation I show kids how to use deduction skills to write a story from art postcards by living authors. We discuss their choices and what they saw in the art that helped them make the decisions they made. We then take their stories and share them with the author whose card was selected, taking the assignment outside of the classroom.

My Writing Journey

This presentation focuses on my journey to authorship despite rejection, I stay persistent, I keep writing, revising, and submitting until I land my agent and share my growing body of work. Then we discuss something they are working on and what steps they are taking to accomplish those goals.

Using Mentor Texts to Write Bedtime Stories

Before writing my award-winning debut, GOODNIGHT GANESHA, I focus on the research behind the book and how I took apart elements that I liked or felt connected to and used them as tools to write my book. Then we go through the five books I used and I show them the elements that stood out at me and how I tried to apply them to my own work in a fresh way .

“An utterly compelling narrative of a woman who was integral to the fight for Civil Rights and mostly overlooked by history. Colorful and engaging, it is a reminder of how much women sacrificed to fight for equality.” — School Library Journal, STARRED review

“Salomon’s lyrical prose makes some of the hard parts of Evers-Williams’s story easier to digest . . . [Ladd’s illustrations] capture the despair and determination.” — Horn Book Magazine, STARRED review

“Salomon chronicles the life and developing voice of civil rights champion Myrlie Evers-Williams . . . Ladd’s distinctive collage bursts with life and color in this homage to a once-shy figure who fought for justice.” — Publishers Weekly

“Strong and soaring.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A fitting and long-overdue tribute.” — Booklist

Educator Resources for Goodnight Ganesha

Educator Resources for A Voice of Hope

Honors, Awards & Recognition

A Voice of Hope
2025 SCBWI Crystal Kite Honor Award
2025 Bank Street Best Children’s Book
2025 BCALA, SLJ Children and Youth Literary Award for nonfiction
2025 Notable Social Studies Trade Book Award
A #PADIBA Commended book.
Starred review from SLJ
Starred review from The Horn Book

Goodnight Ganesha
Bank Street Best Children’s Book
An ALSC Día Selection
An NCTEWow Dozen Poetry Honor Book

A Rakhi for Rakesh
A tender tale of siblings making amends. – Kirkus
A beautiful and culturally significant book that highlights the importance of family, forgiveness, and tradition. – SLJ

Media clips

Federico Erebia | A Voice of Hope

Pie Lady Books | Turning Books into Pies, A Rakhi for Rakesh

IG Live Interview | We Doodle in the Margins with Karen Koh and Michelle Jing Chan

Teaching Books | Nadia Salomon on A Voice of Hope: The Myrlie Evers-Williams Story

Chris Barton | This One’s Dedicated to… Episode 67 & giveaway: A Voice of Hope, by Nadia Salomon

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.