My Afro Is a Rising Sun

For fans of Matt de la Pena and Grace Byers, My Afro Is a Rising Sun is a dazzling picture book inviting BIPOC children to fully express themselves, celebrate their Blackness, and embrace their ancestry.

Black afros are more than just afros. They are a symbol of Black joy. They remind us to embrace our identity, cherish our culture, and remember our heritage. This stunning picture book is an ode to Black hair and a reminder to all children to see the beauty in other people--even those who don’t look like them.

Yaram Yahu is a native Chicagoan. He attended Emerson College, graduating with a BFA focus on Writing, Literature and Publishing. At eleven, he wrote, illustrated, and published his first book, Heartland. Subsequently, he founded his self-publishing company, Rainbows Publishing Inc. Yahu self-published his debut novel at fifteen, Secrets of the Untold Spirits: Part One--The Soul Seeker. His most recent works include publications in Solstice Literary Magazine, Finli, Timbooktu, Keystrokes: Volume III, and the national anthology The Stories They Tell! by The Young Voices Foundation. His features include The Wednesday Journal, Austin Weekly, Oak Leaves, Trapeze, and The Berkeley Beacon. Yahu also contributed as prose editor of Stork Magazine and copyeditor of Wilde Press Publishing House.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, DeAnn Wiley has been a self-taught painter for five years. She began with traditional acrylic painting and just began her journey into the digital art world with a focus on children’s illustrations. Her debut picture book, Sarah Rising, was published by Beaming Books in May 2022. She is an advocate for social justice, as she sits at the intersection of many identities: Black, woman, queer, and disabled. When she is not painting or illustrating, she is working on her final year of grad school for Counseling Psychology.