“When I was born, segregation was the law in the South.”

I know what you are thinking: “Yikes! Lots of snow and blizzards!” Yes, but Buffalo also has the best chicken wings in all the land. Besides, Buffalo is where I metamorphosed from a naive Southern girl to an accomplished professional.

While in Buffalo, I married, had two daughters, and went back to school, all while working full-time at New York Telephone. After seven years, I  earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Ten years after completing my doctorate, I became a widow at the tender age of 44. Now I had to rear, shape, and mold my girls all on my own. It was a scary time.

After seventeen years in the corporate sector, I was downsized.  I started my own consulting business with a focus on Diversity in the Workplace and was later offered my first teaching position as an Adjunct Professor. That was when I discovered that I loved teaching! I taught primarily Educational Psychology, Child Development, and Multicultural Education.

My path to becoming an author was anything but linear.  As a child I was gifted a diary because I loved scribbling in my older siblings’ books. Later, as an adult, I became an oral storyteller before I ever put pen to paper.

After my daughters were grown and gone, I pulled out the many unfinished journals that I had moved from the South to the North and back again. I discovered a passion for writing children’s literature, both historical nonfiction and really fun fictional stories.

“My path to becoming an author was anything but linear.”

And to my utter surprise, I discovered a second love: inspiring and mentoring third and fourth graders. I have teamed up with my beloved husband, Alan, to bring books to life for elementary students. We affectionately call ourselves Mama and Papa K, and we feed their young hearts, minds, souls, and bodies. Yes, we eat together metaphorically and literally!

My goal is to use my life experiences and love of books to birth young activists—to help them see that they are 100% capable of changing the world for the better, starting with themselves.

Peace, joy, and love!

Alan P. Kirkwood

Like my wife Kathlyn, I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, during the time of segregation. I remember well the rules that forbade us from going to certain places or drinking out of a “White Only” water fountain. Even with all these restrictions, I grew up with a propensity to imagine and dream about the world beyond.

While I’ve worked as an accountant, sales manager, and alternative energy specialist, my passion from childhood has always been travel. Throughout the years, I have been blessed to explore the world, seeing many of the places I dreamt about as a boy and more. From swimming in the Dead Sea to observing the “big five” game animals in Kenya, exploring the world has been as thrilling as I imagined.

On many of my travels I collect a walking stick that tells a story about a particular place and culture. It has become so rewarding to bring some of the walking sticks into the classroom through our Team Kirkwood program and explain to young, bright minds that these objects come from places like Jamaica, Israel, Egypt, or Argentina. The kids are always excited to locate these places on their world maps, and the story for each walking stick helps to open their minds to new places to go, new things to do, and new possibilities for what they might experience in life.  

Whether a young person dreams of being a football player, basketball player, rapper, nurse, scientist or paleontologist, I try to expand his or her world by making it as inviting as possible – filled with opportunity. As a member of Team Kirkwood, my mission in the classroom is to let every child know that the world is bigger than their immediate surroundings.