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Calvin Alexander Ramsey Bio
Playwright, Book Author, Photographer
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Born in Baltimore, Maryland. Grew
up in Roxoboro, NC
Lives and works in New York |
Education |
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1981 |
Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, Harlem, New York |
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1977-79 |
Studied at the University of California, Los Angeles |
Solo Exhibitions |
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2025 |
Quest for Freedom, Photography, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2021 |
Seeing In Tempo, Photography, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
Group Exhibitions |
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1982 |
St. John, U.S. Virgin Island |
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1981 |
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Island |
Author |
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“The Library In The Woods,” Lerner
Publishers, Minneapolis, Minn |
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2015-2001 |
Wrote fifteen plays and authored
three children’s books |
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2013 |
Public radio show “Travel with
Rick Steves” interview about the “Green
Book,”airing over 170 stations across the USA |
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2010 |
“Ruth and The Green Book,” the
picture book inspiration for the Academy
Award-winning film, “The Green Book.” |
Lectures |
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2025 |
“Martin Luther King Day,” Society of Ethical Culture, New York |
Productions |
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2025 |
Play, “Phyliss Wheatley in Her Own
Voice,” St. Marks Church in the
Bowery, New York, NY |
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2024 |
Play, “Dr. Edward Alexander
Bouchet,” Yale Club, New York
Musical, “Any Place I Hang My Hat,” life and music of Johnny Mercer, St.
Marks Church in the Bowery, New York, NY |
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2007 |
Musical “Bricktop,” a
cabaret-style look at the life of Ada “Bricktop”
Smith, self-described performer and saloonkeeper who owned the
nightclub Chez Bricktop in Paris from 1924 to 1961, Lorraine Hansberry
Theater, San Francisco, CA |
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2006 |
Musical, “Bricktop”
Southwest Arts Center, Atlanta, GA; a nine-week run
at Metro Stage, Washington, D.C.
“Canada Lee” chosen for a Play Lab at the Edward Albee Great Plains
Theater Conference, Omaha, Nebraska |
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2005 |
“Canada Lee,” Ramsey’s exploration
of complex career of African
American actor and civil rights activist, read at National Black Theater
Festival, Winston- Salem, NC
“The Green Book,” a two-act play about difficulties African Americans
faced traveling during the Jim Crow era, World Premier, Atlanta, GA.
Read at Yale University and LaMaMa, Manhattan East Village
“Shermantown, Baseball, Apple Pie, and the Klan,” Stone Mountain, GA.
venue |
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2004 |
Finalist, 12th Annual Last
Frontier Theater Conference, Valdez, Alaska,
critiqued by playwrights, actors, and directors, including Edward Albee,
Tony Kushner, Lloyd Richards, Courtney Vance, and Patricia Neal |
Film |
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2018 |
“The Green Book Chronicles,”
co-produced by Calvin Alexander Ramsey
and Becky Wible Searles, a one-hour documentary featuring over 30 live
interviews conducted in six locations (New York (NY), Atlanta (GA),
Newark (NJ), Birmingham, (AL), Washington (DC), and Myrtle Beach,
(SC), stop-motion media, and animation segments that explore a range of
personal experiences connected to this little-known Civil Rights–era
story. The “Green Book” was a travel guide for African Americans in the
days of Jim Crow. |
Awards |
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Jane Adams Award for “Ruth, The
Green Book”
Jane Adams Award for “Belle, The Last Mule at Gees Bend”
Bank Street College Best Book
Star Review School Library Journal
Foreword Magazine Best Book
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Drum Major for Justice” |
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2012 |
Nominated, Sequoyah Book Award |
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2011 |
Long-listed, Texas Bluebonnet
Award Master List
Commended, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Bronze Award
Winner, Skipping Stones Book Award
Commended, Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor Book
Runner-up, Jefferson Cup Award Honor Book
Winner, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices
Winner, SSLI Book Award Best Book
Finalist, Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children's Literature
Nominated, Commended, Bluestem Award Nominee |
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2010 |
Winner, Capitol Choices:
Noteworthy Books for Children
Winner, Notable Award, American Library Association, Notable Children's
Books
Winner, Notable Award, Best Children's Book of the Year, Children's Book
Committee at Bank Street College |
Membership |
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1996-2001 |
Georgia Council for the Arts
Theater Panel
Advisory Board of Emory University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts
Collections
Woodruff Library, Atlanta, GA |
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2020 |
National Arts Club, New York |
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2022 |
New York Society of the Sons of
the Revolution, New York
Sons of the Revolution, Pennsylvania, and Palm Beach, FL
Sons of the American Revolution, New Haven, CT, and Tampa Bay, FL |
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2018 |
Former Trustee, Bronx Museum of
the Arts, NY
Former Trustee, Paul Green Foundation, Chapel Hill, NC |
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