The Herndon Children’s Book Festival, by A Thousand Stories, was held at Arts Herndon on Saturday, Oct. 19. It featured 15 authors and their books on two stages, including event headliner Kwame Alexander, poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author, including his Newbery Medal-winning middle-grade novel “The Crossover.” Alexander is a former resident of the Town of Herndon, Reston, and London, England, now living in Chevy Chase, Md. 

Alexander's “The Crossover” Disney+ series was nominated for two awards at the 2nd Annual Children's & Family Emmy Awards on Dec. 17, 2023, the Outstanding Writing for a Young Teen Program and Outstanding Young Teen Series, for which he won an Emmy Award. The Crossover Disney+ series is based on Alexander’s middle-grade novel, “The Crossover,” a Newbery Award winner.
Alexander recounted to the children and adults gathered outside on the Arts Center lawn his story of when he really wanted to win something but didn't, and felt enormously disappointed. He said he embraced rejection, not blocking the blessings he has, and the reasons behind his dedication to writing books that inspire and entertain.

This story begins with receiving a call from Disney congratulating him on being nominated for the two Emmy Awards, but then informs Alexander that the show has been canceled due to low viewership. 

“So now I'm just devastated," Alexander says to the crowd. He adds that the caller says he will call the other producers and all the actors and let them know.

Alexander insists that "under no circumstances” should the Disney representative call anyone else that night and tell them about the show's cancellation. "You're going to give them 24 hours to enjoy this moment like you should have given me," Alexander says.

He describes going to the grocery store and getting Ben & Jerry's ice cream. “Very cliche. And I get home, and I eat a whole pint, and I'm bawling. I'm so sad that I cannot believe this,” says Alexander.

Alexander calls his father for advice, who, at first, laughs. “And I say, Dad, why are you laughing? He says, ‘You don't listen to yourself.’” Alexander says he delivered a SayYes TED talk in Herndon, emphasizing embracing "no's" to receive "yeses eventually." Alexander says. “You gotta work for it and wait.”

Accepting the setback of the show's cancellation, Alexander prepares to attend the Emmy Awards, where his show received two nominations, for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Teen Show.

“I go to Neiman Marcus at Tysons. I'm telling y'all the whole story. I buy two Armani tuxes, like I'm going to look really fly. I'm going to represent y'all. And so I go to Hollywood on the first night of the Emmys. I am there with the other co-writer, Damani Johnson. We are looking fly.” 

Alexander tells the Herndon book fair crowd he is sharing this story with them because they are all part of it. "This is the community that birthed this writerly journey that I was on.”

The two-and-a-half-hour Emmy ceremony began with the presentation of the award. “I really wanted to win; I really wanted to win this award,” Alexander says. He tells that the ceremony’s emcee says, “‘And the Emmy goes to,’ and he does not say my name.”

“I wish I could tell y'all I stayed for those two and a half hours. I left, and I ordered some room service and ice cream. See a pattern here? And I sat in my hotel room, and I cried. I called my father, and he laughed and said, ‘Dude, don't block the blessings you already won.’ That doesn’t really help me. So I hang up, and I go to sleep.”

(Creative Arts Emmy Awards take place on two consecutive nights, usually the weekend before the Primetime Emmy Awards.)

Alexander says that it hit him when he woke up. “I'm saying, ‘Okay, Kwame, you got a book published that nobody wanted to publish. Not only did nobody want to publish it, but it ended up winning the award for the most distinguished contribution to American leadership for children (2015 John Newbery Medal). And then you got a TV show, and then you got nominated. Stop tripping, Kwame. You already won. So I said, ‘Okay, good, I already won.’”

Alexander is approaching the conclusion of his story. He attends the Emmys for the next night’s awards, dressed in his new Armani tux. The producers of the show, along with two other producers from another show, sit with him. Everyone, including the other producers, really wants to win.

“They're so nervous,” says Alexander. “They’re feeling like I felt that first night.” He adds that the producer sitting beside him has received six nominations but never won. “She keeps going back and forth to the bathroom,” he says. They arrive at the final award ceremony of the evening.

Alexander says that the announcer named the nominees. “For Outstanding Teen Show are Ghostwriter, The Mysterious Benedict Society, XO, Kitty, High School Musical: the Musical, and The Crossover. Everybody, all the other producers, are freaking out, and I'm like, yeah, I already won. I'm good. And I kid you not, this guy says, 'And the Emmy goes to, he says, ‘The ‘kuh.’” 

“All he says is the ‘kuh.’ I somehow leap over the two people who are right here (pointing next to him), and I am in the aisle dancing. I am dancing in the aisles. And by the time he finishes Crossover, all the producers are looking at me like, ‘What happened?’”

Alexander tells walking down the aisle and, having overdone Weight Watchers to fit in the tux, keeps pulling his pants up because they are falling down. As they step onto the stage, Alexander finds himself “completely speechless” for the first time. Alexander says he doesn’t remember what he said and never watched the video.

Alexander says what he hoped he did say was to thank the woman who showed him how to love words. “The woman who introduced me to the “Fox in Socks” books when I was three years old was my mother, Barbara Alexander. To thank the man who made me read the dictionary and the encyclopedia as an eight-year-old and made me read his PhD dissertations as a 12-year-old. I hope I thank my father, Dr. Curtis Alexander. I hope I thank Sharon Nachman, who used to make me chocolate chip cookies. I hope I thank my friend who lived across the street from Main Drive, Gus,” Alexander says.

“I hope I thank the Herndon community for just being there, for being supportive, and for always smiling. I hope I thank my daughters, who tolerated me traveling and still tolerate me traveling,” he says. “My job is to use words to change the world — one word at a time. My job is to help young people imagine a better world … My job is to bring us together through the power of books.”

The truth is that Kwame Alexander “loves” his job. “The awards are awesome,” Alexander says, “They make you feel good.” But the real rewards come when young people read your books. That’s my story.”