Rhiannon Giddens is a musician, singer, songwriter, author, MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize winner, founding member of the traditional African American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the artistic director at Silkroad. She has won two Grammy Awards and has been nominated for an additional six for her work as both a soloist and a collaborator. Her lifelong mission is to uplift people, particularly Black Americans, whose contributions to American musical history previously have been ignored or erased, and to work toward a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins. The author of Build a House, illustrated by Monica Mikai, and We Could Fly, illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, Rhiannon Giddens lives in Limerick, Ireland.

Monica Mikai studied painting and earned an MFA at the New York Studio School. She is the illustrator of The Proudest Color by Sheila Modir and Jeffrey Kashou and My Mother’s Wildest Dreams by John A. Light. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.