After earning her BA in literature from Yale University, Autumn Allen worked in the Program to Eliminate Health Disparities at the Harvard School of Public Health and studied cultural psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she took courses in counseling at both the School of Education and the Divinity School. She spent many years as an educator in non-traditional settings with children of all ages before returning to graduate school to earn degrees in children’s literature and writing for children from Simmons University. She writes books for children and teens, edits picture books as a senior editor at Barefoot Books, and teaches educators, writers and young people at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Highlights Foundation, Kweli, Grub Street, and in local cooperatives.
Autumn’s debut novel, All You Have to Do, was released in 2023, and her works in progress, picture books and YA novels centering Black and Muslim youth, will be released in the coming years. Autumn grew up in Boston and has studied tajweed, the science of Quran recitation, with local teachers. She has served as a Girl Scout troop leader for Muslim girls, led book groups for Muslim children and teens, and organized outdoor activities for women and families. Her early travels to Senegal, Sudan, and Morocco influenced her understanding of the beautiful diversity among Muslims. Autumn believes in harnessing the power of diversity both within the Muslim community and within the human family.
As a Muslim Spiritual Advisor at Northeastern, Autumn will be available for individual and group counseling for Muslim students and will help connect Muslim students with local individuals and groups.
