Stacy Davidowitz

Re-live every moment from Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz’s launch of their brand new book, “Cut Loose”! Thank you to everyone who came out to support You never know who you might see at The Museum of Broadway! Available now at @abramsbooks Video by @NolanDoran #cutloose #booklaunch #alistroker #stacydavidowitz #book #launch #booksigning #sequel #thechancetofly #event #museumofbroadway #broadway #musicaltheatre #theatrelife #theatrekids #theatre #nyc #timessquare #abramsbooks

Tony Winner Ali Stroker talks with Sara Gore about her latest book, “Cut Loose” and her upcoming concert at Carnegie Hall. #NewYorkLiveTV

Actress Ali Stroker won a Tony Award for her 2019 performance in Broadway's "Oklahoma." She's also an accomplished children's book writer and has a new book out Tuesday.

Tony Award-winning actor Ali Stroker shares her new book for young readers called “Cut Loose” about a middle school girl who uses a wheelchair and loves musical theater. Stroker also talks about being a mom to baby Jesse who is turning one! » Subscribe to TODAY: http://on.today.com/SubscribeToTODAY » Watch the latest from TODAY: http://bit.ly/LatestTODAY About: TODAY brings you the latest headlines and expert tips on money, health and parenting. We wake up every morning to give you and your family all you need to start your day. If it matters to you, it matters to us. We are in the people business. Subscribe to our channel for exclusive TODAY archival footage & our original web series. Connect with TODAY Online! Visit TODAY's Website: http://on.today.com/ReadTODAY Find TODAY on Facebook: http://on.today.com/LikeTODAY Follow TODAY on Twitter: http://on.today.com/FollowTODAY Follow TODAY on Instagram: http://on.today.com/InstaTODAY » Stream TODAY All Day: https://www.today.com/allday About: TODAY All Day is a 24/7 streaming channel bringing you the top stories in news and pop culture, celebrity interviews, cooking, and more. All in one place. #parenting #book #celebrity

Uptown Lit Lit 2023: Sisterhoods, Elders, & Friends Forever in Middle-Grade Novels with Stacy Davidowitz, Alexandra V. Méndez, & Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, moderated by Veronica Santiago Liu Like it or not, families and friends shape us: who we are, who we want to be, and who we don't want to be. From blended families and elder magic to raucous cabin mates, hear from three middle-grade authors - Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Alexandra V. Méndez, and Stacy Davidowitz - navigating these relationships through fiction. Stacy Davidowitz is an acclaimed author and playwright. Her novel The Chance to Fly, coauthored by Ali Stroker, was named a best children's book of the year by Amazon, Chicago Public Library, Parents, and Bank Street College of Education. Its sequel, Cut Loose!, releases October 24, 2023. Stacy is also the author of the Camp Rolling Hills series, the Hanazuki chapter-book series, and award-winning plays that have been produced regionally and internationally. Stacy lives in Washington Heights with her husband and twin boys, and is a proud Uptown Stories teacher. Follow her on Instagram at @stacydavidowitzbooks and learn more at www.stacydavidowitz.com. Alexandra V. Méndez is a writer, teacher, and scholar who grew up bilingual in Decatur, Georgia, with family roots in Mexico and Mississippi. Her debut novel "What the Jaguar Told Her" was included in Kirkus’s list of the “Best Middle-Grade Fiction of 2022,” and the Southern Review of Books named it among “The Best Southern Books of October 2022.” She graduated from Harvard University in History and Literature and has a Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University. She teaches at Barnard College and is a writing mentor with the nonprofit Girls Write Now. The Spanish edition of What the Jaguar Told Her is forthcoming in November 2023. Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is the award-winning author of several children’s books, including Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat; Operation Sisterhood; It Doesn’t Take A Genius, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year; 8th Grade Superzero; Two Naomis, co-authored with Audrey Vernick, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award; Saving Earth: Climate Change and the Fight For Our Future, a Junior Library Guild Selection; Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins; Mae Makes A Way: The True Story of Mae Reeves, Hat and History Maker; and, with Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin, The Sun Does Shine: An Innocent Man, A Wrongful Conviction, and the Long Path to Justice (Young Readers Edition), which was a School Library Journal and Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year. Word Up first launched Uptown Kid Lit in 2019 as a one-day festival for the Uptown community. After two years of virtual/hybrid programming in 2020 and 2021, UKL returned in person in 2022—with a focus on comics. Each year has gathered a unique and vibrant group of authors, illustrators, educators, publishers, editors, craftspeople, artists, and community organizations—all to support and celebrate our neighborhood’s youngest readers and families. In 2023, Uptown Kid Lit returned for its third year. Due to rain, the event was held inside Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Inwood, NYC. Uptown Kid Lit is organized by Word Up Community Bookshop and is made possible, in part, with funds from UMEZ Arts Engagement, a regrant program supported by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), and administered by LMCC. Uptown Kid Lit is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Word Up Community Bookshop’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Activist, author, and NEA’s Read Across America Ambassador Marley Dias makes a reading connection with Ali Stroker & Stacy Davidowitz, authors of The Chance to Fly (Harry N. Abrams) For suggestions for engaging reading activities related to The Chance to Fly, questions for discussion or reflective writing, related resources, and recommendations of more titles to try, visit www.nea.org/readacross.

Tony Winner Ali Stroker on her coauthored new book, THE CHANCE TO FLY

Purchase book here https://www.wordupbooks.com/event/chance-fly-conversation-authors-ali-stroker-and-stacy-davidowitz Ali Stroker broke ground as the first person in a wheelchair to act on Broadway and win a Tony Award. Join Ali and author Stacy Davidowitz as they discuss and take questions about disability representation in the arts, their childhood theater experiences, and why their middle-grade novel The Chance to Fly is so important for readers now. ABOUT THE CHANCE TO FLY Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there’s one thing she’s absolutely OBSESSED with: MUSICALS! From Hamilton to Les Mis, there’s not a cast album she hasn’t memorized and belted along to. She’s never actually been in a musical though, or even seen an actor who uses a wheelchair for mobility on stage. Would someone like Nat ever get cast? But when Nat’s family moves from California to New Jersey, Nat stumbles upon auditions for a kids’ production of Wicked, one of her favorite musicals ever! And she gets into the ensemble! The other cast members are super cool and inclusive (well, most of them)— especially Malik, the male lead and cutest boy Nat’s ever seen. But when things go awry a week before opening night, will Nat be able to cast her fears and insecurities aside and “Defy Gravity” in every sense of the song title? ABOUT THE AUTHORS Ali Stroker made history as the first person in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway and win a Tony Award. She made her Broadway debut in the revival of Spring Awakening and then played Ado Annie in the revival of Oklahoma! Ali graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and has starred and recurred in numerous television shows including “Glee.” Her work as a humanitarian includes speaking and performing around the world helping people with and without disabilities through her message of “Making your Limitations into Opportunities.” This is her debut novel. Stacy Davidowitz is the author of the Camp Rolling Hills series and coauthor of Camp Rolling Hills the Musical, which continues to have productions across the country. She is also the author of the Hanazuki chapter-book series based on Hasbro’s YouTube series. Stacy has written award-winning plays that have been produced regionally and internationally. When she is not writing, she teaches creative writing and musical theater in schools, foster care facilities, and juvenile detention centers. She is a graduate of Tufts University and Columbia University, where she earned degrees in drama and acting. Stacy lives in Manhattan with her husband and twin boys.