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, was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry and is available now from Penguin Books.

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, was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry and is available now from Penguin Books.

​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.