Kadir Nelson
Kadir Nelson (born 1974) is an American painter and illustrator whose book The Undefeated won the 2020 Caldecott Medal.
- Books illustrated
- 3
- Editions tracked
- 4
- First editions
- 2
- Earliest
- 2000
Kadir Nelson illustrated 3 books we track in 4 editions, from 2000 to 2007, 2 of them first editions. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.
About Kadir Nelson
Kadir Nelson (born 1974) is an American painter, illustrator and author whose picture books include The Undefeated (2019), winner of the 2020 Caldecott Medal, and Moses and Henry's Freedom Box, which earned Caldecott Honors in 2007 and 2008.
He was born in Washington, DC, on 15 May 1974, attended Crawford High School in San Diego and earned a BFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1996. DreamWorks hired him to produce concept art for Steven Spielberg's Amistad and for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. He is based in Los Angeles.
He has illustrated books by Debbie Allen, including Brothers of the Knight, by Will Smith (Just the Two of Us) and by Delores Jordan, as well as Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, Henry's Freedom Box and Kwame Alexander's The Undefeated. As author and illustrator he made We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans and Nelson Mandela. Beyond books he has painted New Yorker covers since 2013, more than a dozen United States postage stamps and album covers for Drake and Michael Jackson. His paintings are held by the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others. His figurative style looks to Ingres, Michelangelo, Hopper and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
For collectors
The first editions of his award winners are the natural targets: Moses (Caldecott Honor 2007), Henry's Freedom Box (Caldecott Honor 2008), We Are the Ship (Robert F. Sibert Medal, 2009) and The Undefeated (Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, 2020). He has also won Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards in 2005 and 2007 and Author Awards in 2009, 2012 and 2020, and received the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement in January 2026.
Illustrated for
Books illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Frequently asked questions
Which books did Kadir Nelson illustrate?
We track 3 books illustrated by Kadir Nelson, in 4 editions, the earliest from 2000.