For Other Professionals
A video interview with
Dallas Clayton
Dallas Clayton is an artist, children's book author, and philanthropist. He successfully self-published his first two books, An Awesome Book! and An Awesome Book of Thanks! Clayton has also founded An Awesome World Foundation, which promotes literacy. For every book he sells he gives one away.
You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript, read a short biography on Dallas Clayton, or see a selected list of his children's books.
Biography
Dallas Clayton was raised in North Carolina and moved to Los Angeles in 1999 when he was 18. He started writing zines, poems, journals, and short stories when he was 13, and has always loved the creativity and personal connection to making things by hand.
After the birth of his son, Audio Science, Clayton was inspired to write, illustrate, and publish An Awesome Book!, a 64 page children's picture book with the theme Dream Big. Clayton opted to self-publish An Awesome Book! — he posted the book for free online and also distributed it through book readings, tours, and other non-traditional means. The book has become a commercial and critical success. His second book, An Awesome Book of Thanks!, was the first children's picture book released by AmazonEncore, a publishing venture that supports emerging writers and exceptional undiscovered books.
In 2009, Clayton founded the Awesome World Foundation, a non-profit group that gives away one copy of An Awesome Book! for each copy sold. The foundation has sent the books to charities around the world and provides free books for distribution at Clayton's classroom readings and book tour events.
Interested in wonderful interviews with tween and teen authors? Hop on over to our sister site, AdLit.org, and browse the library.
