Rio Cortez

Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of picture books The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and The River Is My Sea (S&S, 2024). Her debut poetry collection, Golden Ax, is forthcoming from Penguin Poets this August.

By day, Rio works in sales & marketing at HarperCollins, where she endeavors to amplify the voices and opportunities for BIPOC writers. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, she now lives, writes, and works in Harlem.