Kwame Mbalia

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-09-04

Kwame Mbalia is an American author and publisher born May 12, 1984, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before writing full-time, he worked as a pharmaceutical metrologist. He began his writing career in 2019 and is best known for the Tristan Strong series (2019-2021), which draws on West African mythology and African-American folktales; the first book, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, won the 2020 Coretta Scott King Author Award, the 2019 Children's Africana Book Award for Best Book for Older Readers, and a 2019 Cybils Award. He also co-authored the Last Gate science fiction series with Prince Joel Makonnen, edited the middle-grade anthology Black Boy Joy (2021), wrote the Jax Freeman series, and contributed Star Wars: The Last Order (2025) and Captain America: Brave New World: A Hero Looks Like You (2025). In 2024 he became head of Freedom Fire, a Disney-Hyperion imprint focused on middle-grade fiction and Black storytelling.

Universe(s)

Books

• Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (2019) · Tristan Strong Core Canon
• Tristan Strong Destroys the World (2020) · Tristan Strong Core Canon
• Tristan Strong Keeps Punching (2021) · Tristan Strong Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 3 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 won)

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