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\nBilly Porter has a new, deeply personal kids’ book on the horizon, Songbird in the Light The book hits shelves next spring, and PEOPLE has an exclusive look inside”I realized the power that was in these vocal cords,” Porter says, “And it changed everything for me.”<\/p>\n
When Billy Porter<\/a> discovered the superpower that is his voice, it became his salvation. Now with his new children’s book, Songbird in the Light<\/a>, he hopes to give other kids that same hope.\n<\/p>\n “My voice is my savior, the gift from on high,” Porter tells PEOPLE in a conversation about the new book, coming from Abrams Books for Young Readers next spring. “It’s my weapon, it’s my solace. It’s my peace. It’s my hope. It’s my joy. When I was a kid, it was all of those things. The reason why I’m alive is because I could sing.”\n<\/p>\n Billy Porter\u00a0is an actor, singer, director, composer and playwright, as well as the winner of the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Pray Tell in<\/a>\u00a0Pose<\/a> \u2014 which made him the first openly gay Black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category. He’s also the winner of the 2013 Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his performance as Lola in\u00a0Kinky Boots<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Billy Porter.<\/p>\n Abrams<\/p>\n But before all of that, he was a little kid with an oddly shaped head getting “bullied mercilessly” in school. “My original version of this book was called ‘Rockhead Bill’ because when I was a kid, for a couple of years, my head grew larger than my body, and I got made fun of a lot,” he shares.\n<\/p>\n “There was a lot of trauma in my childhood, and so when I tried to sit down and start writing this book … the inciting incident is somebody throwing a rock at my head. Kids can be the worst.”\n<\/p>\n That’s when Porter realized that his original idea was too violent for the target audience, and “learned very quickly\u00a0 that I actually could not do it alone, because I don’t really understand how to write for [kids].” He teamed up with children’s book author Chris Clarkson<\/a> and Coretta Scott King\/John Steptoe New Talent Award and Children\u2019s Africana Book Award\u2013winning illustrator Charly Palmer <\/a>to bring a young Porter’s story to the page.\n<\/p>\n ‘Songbird in the Light’ by Billy Porter, with Chris Clarkson and illustrated by Charly Palmer.<\/p>\n Abrams<\/p>\n In Songbird in the Light, Mama says her little boy is a songbird with a voice bigger than his whole body, an official synopsis reveals. But at school, his classmates make fun of him, which makes him feel like a songbird too shy to sing. But with the support of his choir teacher, he realizes his voice is unique and distinct and when the school showcase comes around, he’s finally ready to share his talent with the world.\n<\/p>\n That’s almost exactly what happened to a young Porter. “I was bullied mercilessly from like the first to the fifth grade,” Porter explains. After he signed up for \u2014 and won \u2014 his school talent show, “I realized the power that was in these vocal cords. And it changed everything for me.”\n<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now<\/a>!\n<\/p>\n When working with Clarkson and Palmer, Porter wanted to create not just a kids’ book, but a lasting work of art. “When you’re a child, you relate to [a book] in one way, and then when you grow up, you look at it, and it’s a piece of art,” he explains. “The art in this book, I think, is extraordinary. And I wanted it to not pander, but to elevate.”\n<\/p>\n A spread from ‘Songbird in the Light’.<\/p>\n Abrams<\/p>\n