{"id":1618,"date":"2022-06-07T03:07:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/press-kit\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T10:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T14:21:46","slug":"press-kit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/press-kit\/","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Everyone has a story to tell.<\/p>\nRising Stars Interview<\/a> Nov 16, 2020<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Bio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Melissa H. Mwai is a children’s author and illustrator. She’s written six nonfiction books including National Geographic Kids Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture<\/a> (Nat Geo Kids, Dec ’26), I Can Make a Friend<\/a> (Paw Prints, ’25) and A Puerto Rican Childhood<\/a> (DK, ’24). Melissa has published poetry and illustrations in Gnomes and Ungnomes: Poems of Hidden Creatures<\/a> <\/strong>(Writers’ Loft Press, ’23). As a neurodiverse Afro-Latina herself, Melissa is thrilled that her books help ethnically and neurodiverse kids learn more deeply about their world. She is represented by\u00a0Jacqui Lipton<\/a>\u00a0at Raven Quill Literary Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A New York native, Melissa now lives in Maryland with her spouse, two kids, and rabbit named Sailor. Melissa and Sailor hang out while she creates new things for kids. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Name Pronunciation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mwai rhymes with WHY. My last name is from Kenya.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Interviews & Articles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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New Book Network (NBN) Interview<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The Mid-Career GPS Podcast Interview (Episode 288)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Harnessing the History of the Harlem Renaissance<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The Mysterious World of Work-for-Hire Early Readers<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Research Gems (Story Storm 2024)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Legit Kidlit Draw-Off (Ep 139)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
KidLit 411 Interview<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Rising Stars Interview<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bio Melissa H. Mwai is a children’s author and illustrator. She’s written six nonfiction books including National Geographic Kids Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture (Nat Geo Kids, Dec ’26), I Can Make a Friend (Paw Prints, ’25) and A Puerto Rican Childhood (DK, ’24). Melissa has published poetry and illustrations in Gnomes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1618","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1618"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2556,"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1618\/revisions\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissamwai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}