Ebony Flowers was born and raised in Maryland. She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she wrote her dissertation as a comic (mostly), and a BA in Biological Anthropology from the University of Maryland College Park.
Flowers was named the Mary I. Bunting Institute Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, part of the 2022-23 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program.
Flowers is a 2017 Rona Jaffe Award recipient. Hot Comb, her debut book, appeared on best of 2019 lists from the Washington Post, NPR, the Guardian, and the New York Public Library. Hot Comb won the Eisner, Ignatz, and Believer Book Award, and received nominations for numerous others, including the NAACP Image Award and the YALSA Alex Awards. Flowers lives in Denver, CO, with her son, husband, and cat.
Awards
2020 Eisner for Best Short Story, “Hot Comb,” in Hot Comb
2020 Ignatz for Outstanding Graphic Novel (Hot Comb)
2020 YALSA/ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens (Hot Comb)
2019 Believer Book Award for Fiction (Hot Comb)
2019 Ignatz for Promising New Talent
2017 Rona Jaffe Award
Nominations
2020 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work: Youth/Teens
2020 Eisner for Best Publication for Teens
2020 Ringo Award for Best Single Issue or Story
2020 Ringo Award for Best Original Graphic Novel
2020 YALSA/ALA Alex Award
2020 Cartoonist Studio Prize
2019 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award