Rio Cortez is the New York Times–bestselling author of the picture books The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and The River Is My Sea (S&S, 2024). Her debut poetry collection, Golden Ax, was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry and the Pen America Open Book Award and was a finalist for Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award. She is a 2016 Cave Canem Chapbook winner.