Subscribe to our newsletter
New York, NY (July 29, 2026) – The National Book Foundation (NBF) today announced the 2026/27 cohort of Fellows selected for the NBF Teacher Fellowship, an initiative that supports and celebrates 6th–12th grade teachers who use innovative methods to make reading for pleasure a part of their students’ classroom experience. The 2026/27 NBF Teacher Fellows were selected by a committee, also announced today, of five writers, educators, and literary arts professionals. This marks the fourth cohort of the NBF Teacher Fellowship, which launched in 2023. The Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of over 250 applicants, including educators from 48 states, Washington, DC, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. The National Book Foundation Teacher Fellowship is made possible in part by the Whiting Foundation.
“Each year, a new cohort of National Book Foundation Teacher Fellows comes together to learn from one another and collectively find new and creative ways to inspire their students to read for the pure joy of reading,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “At a time when the freedom to read is under attack in myriad ways across the country, we are proud to support this incredible group of educators, and we are especially grateful to our selection committee for recognizing them and their deserving projects.”
The 2026/27 NBF Teacher Fellows are educators that live and work in urban, suburban, and rural communities across five states—California, Hawaiʻi, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas—and for the first time, the cohort also includes educators in Guam and the US Virgin Islands. Their subject areas include English Language Arts, Science, and Spanish Language Arts, and their students encompass intersecting populations, including deaf and hard-of-hearing students and English Language Learners. Together, this year’s cohort of educators will serve 1,270 6th–12th grade students during the 2026/27 academic year. The NBF Teacher Fellows will integrate bold and adaptable classroom activities that center books, discovery, and the joy of reading. Activities include reading buddies, cross-grade and cross-language reading initiatives, student-led podcasts, independent reading projects, and many more, with the goal of encouraging a lifelong love of reading and learning inside and outside of the classroom for students.
As part of the initiative, selected Fellows receive a $2,000 budget for books and classroom supplies as well as a $3,000 stipend upon completion of the program. Teacher Fellows will develop or extend an initiative that promotes reading for pleasure in their classroom, incorporate National Book Award–honored titles into their curriculum, participate in a professional learning community, and attend an in-person cohort meeting in New York City.
The 2026/27 selection committee includes educators, literary arts professionals, and writers with an unparalleled commitment to expanding young people’s access to great literature. Multidisciplinary artist Aaron Counts is co-founder of Youth Speaks Seattle, the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate program, and Creative Justice, as well as the author of the poetry collection Strange-tongued Names. Violet Duncan is a Plains Cree and Taíno from Kehewin Cree Nation author, educator, dancer, and storyteller, whose novel Buffalo Dreamer was a Finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Gabriela Goitía Vázquez is an educator, researcher, writer, and 2024/25 NBF Teacher Fellow. Nawal Qarooni is the founder of NQC Literacy, an educator and professor, and the author of Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care. Leroy Smith is the founder and CEO of Realized Curriculum Solutions and has over a decade of experience as a special education teacher and leader.
The online application for the 2027/28 NBF Teacher Fellowship will open in January 2027. Visit the Foundation’s website to learn more about the NBF Teacher Fellowship, including a selection of Teacher Toolkits featuring the projects of former Fellows.
Duván Acosta Jiménez
Andersen United Middle School | Minneapolis, MN
6th–8th grade Spanish Language Arts
Duván Acosta Jiménez is a 6th–8th Spanish Reading Interventionist at Andersen United Middle School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Duván holds a BA from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia), and an Elementary Education MEd with dual language immersion focus from the University of Minnesota. His eagerness to help middle schoolers appreciate books and fall in love with reading led him to unearth different literacy resources for his students. He believes that literature, and the acts of reading and writing, fosters empathy. Outside the classroom, Duván enjoys biking, hiking, traveling, and finding nooks and crannies to take pictures.
About the project: “Mis amigos de lectura” (my reading buddies) project aims to help middle school students gain confidence and perspective on how important reading is for daily life. Students will participate in Spanish reading interventions, sessions designed to build confidence and skill for students who do not feel comfortable to read aloud, decode words in a paragraph fluently, or have not had the opportunity to read with, and for, someone. Students will have the chance to read to their younger peers in elementary schools to foster a reading community and serve as role models for striving and thriving readers in Spanish.
Chayanee Brooks
Ka’u High and Pahala Elementary | Pahala, HI
10th–12th grade English Language Arts
Chayanee Brooks is a Nationally Board-Certified high school Language Arts teacher at Kaʻū High and Pahala Elementary School in Pahala, Hawaiʻi. She has been recognized as a Hawai’i State Teachers Association Pono Award Winner, Kaʻū-Keaʻau-Pāhoa Complex Area Teacher of the Year, Hawaiʻi State Teacher Fellow, and Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellow. She is currently a PhD candidate in neuroscience. Her passion is advising her students in her journalism club to produce their own personal documentary stories that are aired on public television in Hawaiʻi.
About the project: With the passing of America’s 250th anniversary, “Weaving Our Stories” invites students in rural Hawai‘i to explore a fundamental question: what is America? Through National Book Award–honored works including Between the World and Me and Interior Chinatown, plus student-selected texts reflecting their own cultural backgrounds, students engage in reading for pleasure while examining diverse experiences of belonging and identity. The project culminates in a multimedia community website where students share creative responses, connecting Ka‘ū’s isolated community to the national conversation about who we are as Americans.
Joseph Chargualaf II
Okkodo High School | Dededo, Guam
9th–12th grade English Language Arts
Joseph Chargualaf II is a proud CHamoru from the beautiful island of Guam. He teaches Creative Writing and AP Seminar at Okkodo High School. Joseph strives to find new opportunities to promote literacy, becoming his school’s Literacy Grant Project Lead and the main advisor for their National English Honor Society. Currently, Joseph is pursuing an EdD in Academic and Instructional Leadership at the University of Guam, where he also earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Outside of school, Joseph enjoys spending time with his family, visiting bookstores, traveling the world, and swimming at the beach.
About the project: Students from Guam will host “The Title Wave,” a podcast that dives into National Book Award–honored books and local literature, connecting the currents of the books’ social issues to their lived experience as young Pacific people in the world. Students will study, analyze, and promote books of their choice and explore how stories help them learn about themselves and what it means to be a young person living in Guam, Micronesia, the Pacific, and in colonial America.
Misty Coleman
Colonel Joseph C. Rodriguez PREP Academy | San Bernardino, CA
8th grade English Language Arts
With nearly 20 years in education, Misty Coleman is a middle school English Language Arts teacher who centers culturally responsive teaching to ensure students see their identities, history, and brilliance reflected in the classroom. Through intentional text selection and meaningful learning experiences, she uses literacy to spark critical thinking, affirm marginalized voices, and help students lead with clarity and confidence. Her classroom emphasizes student voice, authentic discussion, and rigorous engagement with diverse texts, including graphic novels, historical narratives, and contemporary young adult literature. She is passionate about creating learning spaces where all students feel valued, challenged, and empowered.
About the project: “Books That Build” is a yearlong project designed to rebuild reading stamina through a scaffolded arc of texts that center identity, access, and belonging. Starting with graphic novels and moving toward a full-length novel, students gradually build confidence and endurance while engaging in creative, interdisciplinary projects that connect reading to their lives and communities. Rooted in culturally responsive teaching, this work helps students move from seeing reading as overwhelming to experiencing it as meaningful and affirming.
Eduard Garces
Red Lake School District | Red Lake, MN
9th grade English Language Arts
Eduard Garces is a globally experienced educator, researcher, and literacy advocate with over 18 years of teaching across diverse cultural contexts, from Asia to Northern Minnesota. His work advances student centered learning, project-based design, and purposeful technology integration. He has collaborated with organizations including Macmillan Education, USAID, Cambridge Assessment, Arizona State University, the Minnesota Writing Project, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Eduard is a published scholar of online assessment, and his research informs evolving digital learning practices. He designs inclusive, real-world experiences that empower learners. Outside the classroom, he is often somewhere across the globe on his next adventure.
About the project: Eduard’s project connects 9th grade students with elementary learners through a cross-grade reading initiative that centers joy, storytelling, and community. Ninth grade students select culturally responsive children’s books, practice expressive read-aloud strategies, and visit elementary classrooms to read aloud and engage younger students in conversation. Through preparation, rehearsal, and reflection, high school students develop confidence, fluency, and a positive reading identity while modeling reading for pleasure. The project strengthens a school-wide culture of reading and positions students as leaders and role models through stories.
Angela Garcia
Galveston-Brazoria Cooperative for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing | Houston, TX
6th–12th grade English Language Arts
Angela Garcia is a teacher of the Deaf and Special Education Specialist in Houston, Texas, and an adjunct English professor at San Jacinto College. She views literacy as a civil right and teaching as advocacy. With more than two decades in education, Angela works alongside Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to challenge exclusion, amplify student voice, and reclaim literature as a space for identity, resistance, and power. She believes books can disrupt silence, confront inequity, and help students author themselves into the world.
About the project: “The Signed Stories Studio” is an independent reading initiative designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students. The project builds a National Book Award–honored classroom library, incorporates daily reading-for-pleasure time, and uses Deaf-friendly strategies such as ASL glossing, visual note-taking, and multimodal comprehension support. Students create monthly ASL Book Talks and complete creative book–response projects, fostering confidence, literacy, and identity. Quarterly shared community reads deepen engagement and interpretation. The project celebrates student voice, promotes lifelong reading habits, and models inclusive, accessible literacy instruction for the wider teaching community.
Ambrosia K. Grant
East Jefferson High School | Metairie, LA
10th–12th grade English Language Arts
Ambrosia K. Grant, MEd, is an educator at East Jefferson High School in Metairie, Louisiana, where she teaches English honors and dual enrollment courses. Her work centers on strengthening literacy and helping students engage more deeply with complex texts through project-based, student-centered approaches. She is dedicated to ensuring students have access to culturally responsive texts that challenge and inspire them. She is currently pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Louisiana State University with an Archival Studies Certificate.
About the project: “Many Stories, Many Futures” is a book and literacy project designed for 10th–12th grade Black, Hispanic, and Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) students. The project centers on building a diverse, accessible classroom library paired with student-driven reading experiences that highlight the voices of disabled and minority young people while also supporting college and career readiness. The core belief of the project is that students read more when they see themselves, their communities, and their possible futures reflected in books. By blending literature for pleasure with practical reference texts and structured discussion, this project aims to cultivate lifelong empowered readers.
Daniella Richardson
Charlotte Amalie High School | St. Thomas, USVI
9th grade Science
Daniella Richardson is a proud mother of two and a dedicated Biology educator at Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. She is committed to supporting diverse learners through mentorship and the integration of literacy, inquiry, and hands-on learning in STEM. Passionate about education, she creates engaging, student-centered learning experiences that foster curiosity, critical thinking, and a love of science by utilizing innovative projects, community engagement, and culturally relevant instructional practices. Grounded in education, music, and outreach, Daniella uses her voice to empower young people to reach their fullest potential and become impactful, positive contributors to society.
About the project: “Science Stories” is an 8–10 week reading initiative that connects scientific inquiry with award-winning literature. Students select high quality science nonfiction inspired by National Book Award–honored titles, engage in independent reading, reflective journaling, and science discussion circles, and create multimedia projects evaluating narrative impact and scientific accuracy. The project culminates in a student-led “Science Book Awards Showcase,” where students nominate and celebrate outstanding science literature. By combining choice, storytelling, and authentic evaluation, the project promotes reading for pleasure while strengthening scientific literacy, critical thinking, and appreciation for the power of science writing.
Multidisciplinary artist Aaron Counts is dedicated to the work of opening arts spaces for all voices. He is co-founder of Youth Speaks Seattle; the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate program; and Creative Justice, where he served as lead artist and executive director for its first six years and currently advises as curricular coach. Aaron is the author of the poetry collection Strange-tongued Names and holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia.
Violet Duncan is Plains Cree and Taíno from Kehewin Cree Nation. As an accomplished author, educator, dancer, and storyteller, she has toured both nationally and internationally, sharing her talents and promoting wellness and cultural education across the US, Canada, and Europe. Violet authored her first middle school novel, Buffalo Dreamer, which was a Finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
Gabriela Goitía Vázquez is an educator, education researcher, and writer. She served as a 2024/25 NBF Teacher Fellow, and utilized her fellowship to explore podcasting and poetry. Additionally, she has served as a Fund for Teachers Fellow, and as Miami-Dade County’s Rookie Teacher of the Year. Ms. Goitía Vázquez holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications & Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Learning with Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Nawal Qarooni is an educator, writer and professor who supports a holistic approach to literacy instruction and family experiences in schools across the country. Drawing on her work as an inquiry-based leader, mother, and daughter of immigrants, Nawal’s pedagogy is centered in the rich and authentic learning all families gift their children every day. She is the author of Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care and has a forthcoming title on family engagement.
Leroy Smith, MEd, is the founder and CEO of Realized Curriculum Solutions, partnering with educational organizations to design accessible, culturally responsive curricula. With over a decade of experience as a special education teacher and leader, he has improved academic and social-emotional outcomes for Black and Brown students with learning differences. A 2019 Georgetown M3I Fellow, Leroy integrates culturally responsive practices into curriculum design and consults nationally to support equitable, inclusive education.
