J. Elle

A first generation university student who taught preschool, middle school and high school pupils before she wrote full time, J. Elle grew up in Third Ward, Houston. Her journalism degree is from Texas at Austin and her master's in educational administration and human development from George Washington University. Wings of Ebony, published in 2021, gives a Black teenager called Rue a claim on two worlds, a Houston neighbourhood built on Third Ward and a hidden magical society that would rather she stayed out; it reached the bestseller lists. Ashes of Gold followed in 2022 and closes the duology, taking Rue back to Ghizon to fight for the Ghizoni people and the magic she broke. Wings of Ebony drew a 2022 NAACP Image Award nomination for outstanding literary work for youth and teens and a first novelist honour from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Elle later wrote the middle grade A Taste of Magic and the House of Marionne books for older readers.