Jesse Byrd is a 33-year-old African-American storyteller and dual-native of California and Louisiana.

At 6 feet 8 inches tall, Jesse paid for his college education playing basketball at one of the top 10 Public Academic Universities in the country (UC Santa Barbara).

After 3 years working on a secret project for Google at their headquarters in
California, Jesse decided to pursue his true love of creating stories for readers young and old.

Jesse’s debut novel, King Penguin, was highly praised and won awards at both the Los Angeles and Paris Annual Book Festivals, placing top 10 for the year in its category.

His two picture books: “Sunny Days” and “Real Jungle Tales” have received awards in four major competitions worldwide.

His next storytelling adventures include: SERVE, a picture book about Kibwe, the best player on his second-grade basketball team, whose dad wants him to learn about more than just sports. And, SANTA’S SECRET SHOPPERS a picture book about the team tasked to zip around the world to pick up the raw materials Santa needs to make gifts.

Jesse loves french toast...with sliced strawberries, reading, writing, film, video games, and freshly popped popcorn.

You can book Jesse for STORY TIME READINGS + VISUAL PRESENTATIONS!