Eric Velasquez

Biography

Eric Velasquez was awarded the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent for his first picture book, The Piano Man by Debbi Chocolate. Since that time he has gone on to illustrate several acclaimed picture books, including Carole Boston Weatherford's The Sound That Jazz Makes, Jim Haskins's Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali, and Candice F. Ransom's Liberty Street. The stirring black-and-white images in this book were inspired by the work of noted Civil Rights movement chroniclers Harvey Dinnerstein and Burt Silverman. Eric lives in Hartsdale, New York, with his wife, Deborah.