Alvin Irby

Project: Conducting research and completing a manuscript that gives teachers and caregivers a practical framework for reading identity development, while leading classroom and community-based pilots of Reading So Lit, an award-winning literacy platform for PK-3, co-designed with educators and families to cultivate reading identity, motivation, and agency among young learners.

Alvin Irby is an award-winning early childhood educator, social entrepreneur, national speaker, and author. A former kindergarten teacher in Harlem and first-grade teacher in the Bronx, he is founder and chief reading inspirer at Barbershop Books, a national literacy organization that inspires Black boys and other vulnerable children to read for fun. He has built a national network of child-friendly reading spaces in more than 200 participating barbershops, reaching over 23,000 children each month. His work earned the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize and the Lipman Family Prize from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was named a CNN Hero. Irby's TED Talk, "How to inspire every child to be a lifelong reader," has been viewed over 1.4 million times.

His pioneering work on reading identity development combats reading trauma and helps children develop positive relationships with reading. Reading So Lit (RSL), a tech-enabled reading identity development platform for PK-3, builds on insights from community-based literacy programming. RSL was named to a NewSchools Venture Fund Learning Solution Cohort and won the Tools Competition's Catalyst Award. The platform was co-designed with educators and families to cultivate reading identity, motivation, and agency among young children. His writing, keynotes, and workshops invite educators, librarians, and caregivers to think deeply about how to create personally meaningful literacy experiences across school, home, and community. Irby's children's books, Gross Greg and The Gingerbread Man on My Block, blend humor, storytelling, and compelling illustrations.

Irby earned his Master of Science in childhood education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, his Master of Public Administration from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and his Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Grinnell College.