Tonya Duncan Ellis

Tonya Duncan Ellis is author of They Built Me for Freedom: The Story of Juneteenth and Houston’s Emancipation Park (HarperCollins, Balzer+Bray, 2024) and the Sophie Washington children’s chapter series. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Authors Guild, and the Brown Bookshelf’s Highlights Foundation-sponsored, Amplify Black Stories storyteller cohort. Tonya has spoken and taught at writing conferences at the Highlights Foundation and for SCBWI in New York City and for SCBWI Houston and Austin, TX chapters. She lives in Houston, TX.