Speakers
Reading the World I
February 14 & 15, 1998
The first conference included the following keynote speakers. To read about how the conference came into being, see The Story of Reading the World on this site.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Arnold Adoff
Arnold Adoff discovered his love of words as a child growing up in the Bronx and is the author of over 30 books for children and young adults. He is the winner of the 1988 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. “I read everything in the house and then all I could carry home each week from the libraries I could reach on Bronx buses,” Adoff remembers. After graduating from New York’s City College, Adoff went on to study at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. He was a teacher and counselor in New York City public schools for 12 years and has taught in educational projects at New York University and Connecticut College; experiences that help him capture the reality of childhood in his work. “I just try to create real kids and say real things for real readers,” says Adoff. Some of Adoff’s previous books include Love Letters, a brilliantly conceived collection of witty love poems; black is brown is tan, a SLJ Best Book of 1973, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully; Street Music, a 1995 American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; and Slow Dance Heart Break Blues, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults of 1995. Web Site: www.arnoldadoff.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC’s of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
Virginia Hamilton
Virginia Hamilton was the recipient of nearly every major award and honor in her field and one of today’s most distinguished writers for children and young adults. She was the first writer for children to receive a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. Awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1992 and the 1995 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, she penned such groundbreaking novels as M.C. Higgins the Great, which was awarded the John Newbery Medal. Sweet Whispers and Brother Rush and The Planet of Junior Brown, were both Newbery Honor books. Her collections of folklore, mythology, and historical stories include In the Beginning, a Newbery Honor Book; The People Could Fly, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award; and Many Thousand Gone. She also wrote the novel Plain City, an ALA Notable Children’s Book; Jaguarundi, a picture book; and Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales, a collection of nineteen stories. Sadly, Virginia died in 2002 but her body of work continues to enrich the lives of all. Web Site: www.virginiahamilton.com
Herbert Kohl
Herbert Kohl, a nationally renowned school reformer, was a Senior Fellow at the Open Society Institute in New York City. He has written more than 30 books on education, including the acclaimed 36 Children, The Open Classroom, The Discipline of Hope: Learning from a Lifetime of Teaching, Growing Minds: On Becoming a Teacher, ‘I Won’t Learn from You’: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment, and Should We Burn Babar? Essays on Children’s Literature and the Power of Stories. He has also written A Grain of Poetry: How to Read Contemporary Poems and Make Them a Part of Your Life and Making Theater: Developing Plays With Young People.
Simon Ortiz
Simon Ortiz is a contemporary Native American writer who continues to be a strong voice in literature today. His many writings include poems, short stories, essays, and children’s books. His fascination with listening to the traditional stories told by his elders as a child, lead to his passion for writing. A full blooded Native American, he grew up in the Acoma Pueblo community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he experienced the hardships of the clash of Native American and English cultures; being caught speaking his native tongue of Keresan was sharply punished. Writing became a way for him to both embrace and share his culture. His career includes teaching at San Diego State, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Navajo Community College, the College of Marin, the University of New Mexico, and the Sinte Gleska College. He also served as lieutenant governor of the Pueblo of Acoma and consulting editor of the Pueblo of Acoma Press. Awards include the Wordcraft Circle Writer of the Year (Anthology/Collection) Award, 2000 for Speaking for Generations and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writer’s Circle of the Americas (1993). His books for children include The People Shall Continue, and The Good Rainbow Road: Rawa Kashtyaa’tsi Hiyaani, a Native American tale in Keres and English followed by a translation into Spanish. In addition to guest appearances Mr. Ortiz continues to lecture, write, and contribute to the works of others. Website: www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/so/ortizmain.htm
Jack Zipes
Jack Zipes is an author, scholar, teacher, translator, storyteller, activist, and an internationally recognized researcher and critic. He has worked with children’s theaters in France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. A professor of German at the University of Minnesota, Jack has also taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the University of Florida and New York University. His writings include, Don’t Bet on the Prince, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, When Dreams Came True, Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, and Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. He was editor of The Lion and the Unicorn, the Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature, and the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature.
Reading the World II
February 13 & 14, 1999
The second conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
George Ancona
George Ancona was born Jorge Efrain Ancona Diaz in New York City. He grew up in Coney Island and began his artistic career by painting signs. As a boy, he loved sketching painting, and doing wood cuts. Upon graduating from high school he went to Mexico to meet his grandparents and large family. He studied painting in Mexico City and returned to New York to begin work as a graphic designer. For the next ten years he worked for magazines and advertising agencies and became interested in the art of photography. He traveled the world as a free lance cameraman and photographer, always exploring new places and enjoying meeting new faces. He has produced documentary films for television and industry. For the last twenty years he has photographed, written and designed children’s books, including Dancing Is, Fiesta Fireworks, The Piñata Maker, Mayeros, and he has done the vivid photography for a variety of authors on a vast array of topics from A Williamsburg Household to City! San Francisco. Web Site: www.georgeancona.com
Michael Lacapa
Michael Lacapa was born in Phoenix, Arizona and moved to the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona. His Roots are with the Hopi, Tewa and Apache. His boyhood passion for art stayed with him as he earned his BA from Arizona State University, Tempe, in secondary education, and an MFA from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff in print making. He has taught at the Phoenix Indian High School and Chaparral High School in Phoenix. Michael has worked with the Apache Tribe in developing multi-cultural educational curricula for native school-age children, using storytelling as a teaching tool, and he taught art at Whiteriver Elementary School. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is known as a gifted storyteller, a fine musician, and the talented illustrator of such books as The Magic Hummingbird, Spider Spins a Story, and the new The Good Rainbow Road. He is the author/illustrator of The Flute Player, Antelope Women and Less Than Half, More Than Whole, the latter co-authored with his wife Kathy.
Allen Say
Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1937. He dreamed of becoming a cartoonist from the age of six, and, at age twelve, apprenticed himself to his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei. For the next four years, Say learned to draw and paint under the direction of Noro, who has remained Say’s mentor. Say illustrated his first children’s book, published in 1972, in a photo studio between shooting assignments. For years, he continued writing and illustrating children’s books on a part-time basis but in 1987, while illustrating The Boy of the Three Year Nap (Caldecott Honor Medal), he recaptured the joy he had known as a boy working in his master’s studio. It was then that he decided to make a full commitment to doing what he loves best: writing and illustrating children’s books. Since then he has written and illustrated many books, including Grandfather’s Journey, winner of the 1994 Caldecott Medal, Stranger in the Mirror, Emma’s Rug, Allison, and most recently, Tea with Milk.
Website: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay
Junko Yokota
Junko Yokota is a Professor of Multicultural Literature K-12 at National-Louis University in Chicago and co-author of Children’s Books in Children’s Hands, (Allyn & Bacon, 2001). Born in Japan, Dr. Yokota came to the United States to attend college. She was an elementary school teacher for ten years before earning a Ph.D. in Reading Education with a minor in children’s literature and library science. She now serves as a consultant to school districts, guiding curriculum development and providing professional development for teachers. Dr. Yokota is a frequently invited speaker and her topics most frequently center on issues of multicultural literature, literacy development of students of diversity, and improving literacy instruction in schools. Her publications also include two columns that review children’s books, as well as journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Yokota is past president of the U.S. national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), and has served on the Newberry, Caldecott, and Batchelder Award Committees, as well as the Notable Books for a Global Society, the Notable Books in the Language Arts and the Parenting Magazine Reading Award Committee. She is an active member of the American Library Association.
Jack Zipes
Jack Zipes is an author, scholar, teacher, translator, storyteller, activist, and an internationally recognized researcher and critic. He has worked with children’s theaters in France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. A professor of German at the University of Minnesota, Jack has also taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the University of Florida and New York University. His writings include, Don’t Bet on the Prince, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, When Dreams Came True, Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, and Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. He was editor of The Lion and the Unicorn, the Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature, and the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature.
Reading the World III
October 14 & 15, 2000
The third conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Website: www.almaflorada.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC’s of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is world renowned for her poetry and essays. She is also a college professor, a world traveler, an editor, and a respected author of fiction and essays. Ms. Giovanni attended Fisk University in Nashville and the Columbia University School of Arts. She holds fourteen Honorary Doctorates from a variety of Universities and is the recipient of the Langston Hughes Award. She has also been named to the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, the Outstanding Woman of Tennessee, and given the NAACP Image Award for Love Poems. She has created a film, Spirit To Spirit: The Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, which earned the Silver Apple Award from the Oakland Museum Film Festival, as well as records, tapes and CDs. She is famous for her explorations and illuminations of African American heritage. As one of the first celebrated and controversial poets to emerge from the Black Arts Movement, she has achieved and maintained fame as a praised and noted literary figure. Her poetry for children includes, Ego Tripping and Other Poems for Young Readers, Vacation Time, Knoxville, Tennessee, The Genie in the Jar, and The Sun is So Quiet. Nikki is now a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech. Website: www.nikki-giovanni.com
Ken Mochizuki
Ken Mochizuki holds a degree in communications from the University of Washington and has spent many years as a newspaper journalist. His special interest concerns the history and current issues of Americans of Asian descent. He is the author of three children’s books. Baseball Saves Us, winner of the Parents’ Choice Award, Not Just for Children Anymore Selection, Children’s Book Council (CBC) Winner, the Washington State Governer’s Writers Award, and was named “Best Multicultural Title of 1993″ by Publishers Weekly for their annual Cuffies Awards, Editor’s Choice by the San Francisco Chronicle, Choices by CCBC and Pick of the Lists by the American Booksellers. Heroes was a Teacher’s Choice Award and named a Notable Book for Children by Smithsonian Magazine. Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, received awards from the International Reading Association, NCTE Notables in Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English Notable Books for Children, Smithsonian Magazine, Notable Books for a Global Society, International Reading Association (IRA), and Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies.
Anne Pellowski
Anne Pellowski is a writer, a consultant, and a lecturer. She speaks six languages and is known internationally as a consummate storyteller. She was recently recognized as the “Outstanding Woman of the Arts and Humanities” in Winona, Minneapolis. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the College of St. Teresa attended the University of Munich, Germany on a Fullbright Scholarship, and a master’s degree in library science at Columbia University, New York. For eight years she was a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library. She holds a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Colorado. She founded and directed the Information Center on Children’s Cultures of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF. Ms. Pellowski’s books include the much loved The Storytelling Handbook and The Story of Vine. She has also written A World of Children’s Stories, The World of Storytelling and The Family Storytelling Handbook, as well as her many stories about Polish family life.
Gayle Ross
Gayle Ross is a descendant of John Ross, Principle Chief of the Cherokee Nation during the infamous “Trail of Tears.” Her grandmother told stories and it is from this rich heritage that Gayle’s storytelling springs. During the past fifteen years, Gayle has become one of the best-loved and most respected storytellers to emerge from the current surge of interest in this timeless art form. She has appeared at almost every major storytelling and folk festival in the United States and Canada. Whether she is providing laughter with a trickster tale or moving her many listeners to tears with a haunting Cherokee creation, Gayle is truly a master of the age-old craft of storytelling.
Gary Soto
Gary Soto is the author of ten poetry collections for adults. His recollections Living Up the Street received a Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines. He was one of the youngest poets to appear in The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. He received the Recognition of Merit from the Claremont Graduate School for Baseball in April and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1999 he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. Mr. Soto was a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. He serves on several boards, including Arte Americas, and La Galeria de La Raza. His books for children and adolescents also include A Fire in My Hands: A Book of Poems, Baseball in April and Other Stories, Taking Sides, Pacific Crossing, Crazy Weekend, Jesse, Summer on Wheels, Buried Onions, Too Many Tamales, El Viejo y su Puerta, Snapshots from a Wedding, Big Bushy Moustache, Local News, Chato and the Party Animals, Canto Familiar, Cat’s Meow, and Chato’s Kitchen. Website: www.garysoto.com
Reading the World IV
October 12 to 14, 2001
For its forth conference, Reading the World joined with the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) for an event called GLOBAL CONNECTIONS. The following keynote speakers represented Reading the World.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Website: www.almaflorada.com
Theresa Breslin
Theresa Breslin is an award-winning Scottish librarian and writer with a special interest in children’s literature. She was born in a small town in the middle of Scotland close to castles, old burial grounds and the Roman Wall. Her writing is informed by Scotland’s history and culture both present and past, and appeals to all ages and interests. Traveling on a mobile library through Central Scotland led her to write her first book Simon’s Challenge which won the British Book Trust Fidler Award for new writers. She has been described as an outstanding writer, who creates memorable characters, combining a powerful sense of drama with superb storytelling. Her books appear regularly on children’s book award shortlists, are in translation in a number of languages, and have been dramatized on television and radio. Whispers in the Graveyard, her compelling tale of a dyslexic boy’s search for fulfillment, won the Carnegie Gold Medal, the U.K.‘s most prestigious children’s book award. She is a member of the Board of Scottish Book Trust and serves on the Advisory Committee for Public Lending Right in the U.K. She was awarded lifelong Honorary Membership by the Scottish Library Association for distinguished services to Children’s Literature and Librarianship in 2000. Website: www.theresabreslin.co.uk
Carmen Diana Dearden
Carmen Diana Dearden is the author of Sapo en Invierno (Frog in the Winter). Ms. Deardon promotes Ediciones Ekaré, a non-profit publishing house based in Venezuela, which publishes quality books in Spanish for children and young people from all over the world. The name of the company was borrowed from the Pemón ethnic group, located in southwestern Venezuela. Ekaré means new or true narrations, and in its broader context, stories or legends. Founded in 1978 in affiliation with Banco del Libro, a world renowned institution for the promotion of children’s literature, Ediciones Ekaré is considered a pioneer in the field of children’s book publishing in Latin America.
Nancy Farmer
Nancy Farmer is the highly acclaimed author of The Ear, The Eye and The Arm, and A Girl Named Disaster, both Newbery award-winning novels. She was raised in Arizona, has been an entomologist, has traveled widely in Africa where she lived for many years, and presently lives in Menlo Park, California, where she continues to write picture books and novels for young people. Website: www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com
Carolivia Herron
Carolivia Herron’s book Nappy Hair is the story of a young African American expressing delight in the texture of her hair. The book was considered controversial when read aloud in a New York public school. Dr. Carolivia Herron lives in Washington, D.C. where she is writing fiction, developing multimedia online educational products, establishing writing clubs in Washington, D.C. public schools, and teaching African American Literature, Comparative Epic Tradition (Europe, Africa, and the Americas), and Jewish Africana. Dr. Herron has spent most of her professorial career at Harvard as professor and as a Visiting Scholar. She has also held appointments at Mount Holyoke College and California State University, Chico. She has been a visiting scholar at Brandeis University, Hebrew College of Brookline, Carlton College, the Marien N’Guabi University of Congo, Brazzaville, and several universities in the Republic of Congo. Her fellowships include: Fulbright Fellowship to Mexico, Bunting Fellow of Radcliffe College, Beinecke Fellowship to Yale, Folger Shakespeare Library Scholarship, NEH Fellowship in Curriculum Development in African American Studies, NEH Visit to Collections Fellowship and Smithsonian Fellowship in Art History. Dr. Herron holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania. Website: www.carolivia.org
Thacher Hurd
Thatcher Hurd was born in Burlington, Vermont and grew up in the world of children’s books. His father, Clement Hurd, was the illustrator of Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon and his mother was the children’s writer Edith Thacher Hurd. Authors and illustrators were constant visitors in Thacher’s childhood home. He attended art school, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and the California college of Arts and Crafts. He is the author/illustrator of Mystery on the Docks, (1983), Mama Don’t Allow (1984), which received the Boston globe-Horn Book award for illustration, The Pea Patch Jig (1995), Blackberry Ramble (1995), Art Dog (1996), Santa Mouse and the Ratdeer (1998) and Zoom City (1998), a New York Times Best illustrated book of the Year. He is co-owner of Peaceable Kingdom Press with his wife Olivia. Mystery on the Docks has been adapted for television on Reading Rainbow as has Mama Don’t Allow which has also been featured on CBS storybreak and as an opera for children by the Los Angeles City Opera. Website: www.thacherhurd.com
Virginia Euwer Wolff
Virginia Euwer Wolff is author of Make Lemonade (1993), Bat Six, (1998), Probably A Still Nick Swanson (1998), and The Mozart Season (1991). Her Young Adult books head up the best books lists as awarded by the International Reading Association, the American Library Association, School Library Journal and booklist. She is a former teacher, a violinist, and a native of Oregon. She majored in English at Smith college, taught elementary school in Philadelphia and Long Island, then returned to Oregon to teach high school English. Her newest book is True Believer (2001), a sequel to Make Lemonade which further explores the story of LaVaughn. Virginia is a featured speaker at the summer institute of Children’s Literature New England.
Jack Zipes
Jack Zipes is an author, scholar, teacher, translator, storyteller, activist, and an internationally recognized researcher and critic. He has worked with children’s theaters in France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. A professor of German at the University of Minnesota, Jack has also taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the University of Florida and New York University. His writings include, Don’t Bet on the Prince, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, When Dreams Came True, Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, and Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. He was editor of The Lion and the Unicorn, the Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature, and the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature.
Lizbeth Zwerger
Lisabeth Zwerger, Austrian artist renowned for her illustration of children’s books, especially European folk and fairy tales, was awarded the 1990 Hans Christian Andersen Award, given to an illustrator whose complete work has made an important international contribution to children’s literature. Ms. Zwerger’s paintings appear in many books, including The Merry Pranks of Till Eulenspiegel, Lullabies, Lyrics and Gallows Songs and numerous picture books featuring stories from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, E.T.A. Hoffmann, and Oscar Wilde.
Reading the World V
March 1 & 2, 2003
Gerald McDermott’s “Zomo Reading the World” illustrated our brochure and program for the fifth conference. The program included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Website: www.almaflorada.com
Leo & Diane Dillon
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Diane Dillon has created a magnificent collection of beautifully illustrated books for children along with her equally famous husband and collaborator, Leo Dillon. She studied art at Los Angeles City College, Skidmore College, and Parsons School of Design. At Parsons she met Leo Dillon and the two artists became fierce rivals, though later their mutual admiration of one another’s work turned into friendship, love, ending into marriage and a shared career. After they were married in 1957, they began collaborating artistically. Now they say they cannot tell just which one of them drew which line. For over 40 years the Dillons have created an immense variety of drawings and illustrations for prints, book jackets, textbooks, album covers, children’s books. They have received numerous honors including two Caldecott Medals, for Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ear: A West African Tale, four New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, four Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards, two Coretta Scott King Awards, two Coretta Scott King Honors, and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal.
Leo Dillon, was born in Brooklyn, just 11 days before his future wife and artistic partner Diane was born on the other coast. His parents, who had emigrated from Trinidad, encouraged his artistic talents. Leo trained as commercial artist at New York City’s High School of Industrial Design, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy in hopes of being able to attend college on the G.I. Bill. He entered the Parsons School of Design and there he met and later married Diane Sorber, a fellow student. Their blended talents, which they refer to as the “third artist” has enabled them to produce such treasures as Nancy Willard’s Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymous Bosch, Leontyne Price’s retelling of Aida, Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales, The Girl Who Spun Gold, Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales and Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, Eloise Greenfield’s Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems, and the innovative and evocative portrayal of the words from Ecclesiastes, For Everything There is a Season: Verses from Ecclesiastes. Diane and Leo Dillon live in New York City.
Ana Maria Machado
Ana Maria Machado of Rio de Janeiro received the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for children’s literature in 2000 and has been awarded the National Literary Prize by the Brazilian Academy. She has written over 100 books and is published all over the world. She began her career as a painter, then became a teacher, writer and translator. Leaving Brazil, due to the political situation, she lived in exile working as a journalist in Paris for Elle and in London for the BBC. Upon returning to Brazil she continued a career in broadcasting and writing. Her many wonderful books for children include Niña bonita, Camilon, Comilin, La Abuelita, and The Adventurous Grandmother. Website: www.anamariamachado.com
Gerald McDermott
Gerald McDermott, whose “Zomo Reading the World” graced our program in 2003, is a gifted artist and a compelling storyteller. He began art classes at the Detroit Institute of Arts at the age of four, and in high school began blending pictures and tales into evocative films. He was then awarded a National Scholastic Scholarship to New York’s Pratt Institute of Design. While still attending college, he was the graphic designer for New York’s first educational television station, created animated films, and traveled throughout Europe meeting with other filmmakers. After finishing his degree at Pratt, McDermott produced and directed a series of films on folklore which became the basis for his first children’s books. At this time he met and began working with mythologist Joseph Campbell. This fruitful collaboration and friendship had a profound effect on McDermott’s artistic vision which reverberates to this day.
McDermott’s very first book, Anansi, the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti, was a Caldecott Honor book. He repeated this achievement by being awarded the Caldecott Award for Arrow to the Sun: a Tale from the Pueblo, and Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest, also a Caldecott Honor Book. His book, Musicians of the Sun, which is based on Aztec myth, has been honored by the American Orff-Schulwerk Organization. The most recent addition to his trickster series is Jabuti the Tortoise; a Trickster Tale from the Amazon. His other achievements include: Daniel O’Rourke: An Irish Tale, Musicians of the Sun, The Stonecutter: A Japanese Folk Tale, Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa, and Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest. Website: www.geraldmcdermott.com
Pat Mora
Pat Mora is a much loved poet and author of essays and books for children and adults. A native of El Paso, Texas, the border city where both sets of her grandparents migrated during the Mexican Revolution, she graduated from Texas Western and later received a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. She has been a teacher and university administrator, and a recipient of a Kellog National Fellowship to study ways of preserving language and tradition. She was also awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in poetry.
Her poetry collections for adults include Communion, Borders, Chants, Agua Santa: Holy Water, and Aunt Carmen’s Book of Practical Saints. Her children’s books include Tomas and the Library Lady, The Race of Toad and Deer, The Bakery Lady/La senora de la panadería, Delicious Hulabaloo/Pachanga Deliciosa, The Gift of the Poinsettia/El Regalo de la Flor de Nochebuena,The Desert Is My Mother/El Desierto Es Mi Madre, Listen to the Desert/Oye al Desierto, The Night the Moon Fell: A Maya Myth/La noche que se cayo la luna: Mito Maya, A Birthday Basket for Tia, Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers and Uno, Dos, Tres: One, Two, Three and the poetry collections Confetti: Poems for Children and This Big Sky. Her moving autobiographical writing, House of Houses, a family memoir, has been critically acclaimed as was Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle. Pat’s newest children’s books are A Library for Juana: the World of Sor Juana Inéz and Maria Paints the Hills. She divides her time between Sante Fe, New Mexico and Edgewood, Kentucky and is active in promoting the celebration of April 30th as Día de los niños/Día de los libros. Website: www.patmora.com
Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye, born of a Palestinian father and American mother, is a poet, essayist, author and songwriter. She now lives in San Antonio, Texas. Winner of four Pushcart Prizes, she is the author of several collections of poems, including This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World, Hugging the Jukebox, Come With Me: Poems for a Journey (with Paul Janeczko), I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: Paired Poems by Men and Women, Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets, The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East, The Tree Is Older Than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems & Stories and Red Suitcase. In March 2002 she published two children’s books: Baby Radar and Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. Her wonderful books include Fuel, poems; Habibi, a novel for young readers; Lullaby Raft, a picture book; and Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places, a collection of essays.
A Guggenheim Fellow for 1997 and 1998, Nye has received two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, numerous citations from the American Library Association and was Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress) for 2000. Poetry editor for The Texas Observer and columnist for Organica, Naomi Shihab Nye participated in two PBS documentaries, The Language of Life, with Bill Moyers and The United States of Poetry. Website: www.barclayagency.com/nye
Hudson Talbott
Hudson Talbott, born in Kentucky, picked up a pencil early on and has been drawing and telling stories ever since. Hudson attended the Tyler School of Art in Rome and then stayed in Europe, living in Italy and Holland. Travel has been Hudson’s passport to many adventures which he has later turned into beautifully illustrated books, showcasing his interest in other peoples and other cultures. He spent time in Amsterdam to research his book Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism During the Holocaust, the story of Jaap Penraat. In Wales Hudson researched his King Arthur series (King Arthur and the Round Table, Lancelot: Tales of King Arthur, King Arthur: The Sword in the Stone, Excalibur) and in Dublin, O’ Sullivan Stew: A Tale Cooked Up in Ireland. Trips to Africa, India and the Amazon (Amazon Diary: The Jungle Adventures of Alex Winter) have followed. His first book for children, How to Show Grown-ups the Museum, was commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Another early book, We’re Back!, A Dinosaur’s Story was made into a movie. His many wonderful books include Leonardo’s Horse, Into the Woods, and The Lady at Liberty: Memoirs of a Monument. Website: www.hudsontalbott.com
Reading the World VI
March 13 & 14, 2004
We were excited to feature Ashley Bryan’s Beautiful Blackbird images on our brochure and program for our sixth conference. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC’s of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
F. Isabel Campoy
F. Isabel Campoy is the author of numerous children’s books in the areas of poetry, theater, stories, biographies, and art. She is a songwriter, storyteller, researcher and author of several books on the culture and civilization of the Hispanic world. Isabel’s poetry has appeared in eleven anthologies. Many of her poems have been put to music by Suni Paz, and appear in the collection Músicaamiga. She is a scholar devoted to the study of language acquisition, with degrees in Philology from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Reading University in England, and UCLA in the United States. She was born in Alicante, Spain, coming to the United States at the age of 16. She is known for her work as a translator and has written many books with Alma Flor Ada. A recent book of hers is Rosa Raposa. Website: www.isabelcampoy.com
Minfong Ho
Minfong Ho has a special interest in“Third Language.” This concept refers to young people who grow up with mixed heritages and perhaps more than one language due to family relationships and living in different places. She was born in Burma, grew up in Thailand, began university in Taiwan, then moved to Cornell University in New York. She was a journalist in Singapore and lectured at Chiengmai University in Thailand. She has worked as a nutritionist with Cambodian refugees, which inspired The Clay Marble. She is the recipient of the Southeast Asian Writers Award and Singapore’s Cultural Medallion. Her many books for children include the Caldecott Honor Book, Hush! A Thai Lullaby, as well as Maples in the Mist, Poems for Children from the Tang Dynasty, Brother Rabbit: A Cambodian Tale, Rice without Rain,and The Stone Goddess. Website: www.members.authorsguild.net/minfong
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Cynthia Leitich Smith is the award-winning author of Jingle Dancer, Rain Is Not My Indian Name, and Indian Shoes. She was a 2001 Writer of the Year in Children’s Prose from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Her Website, Children’s Literature Resources at www.cynthialeitichsmith.com, was named one of the top 10 writer sites on the Internet by Writer’s Digest. She is also a tribal member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, lives in Austin, Texas; and is married to children’s author Greg Leitich Smith. Website: www.cynthialeitichsmith.com
Greg Leitich Smith
Greg Leitich Smith is a patent attorney living in Austin, Texas, with his wife Cynthia Leitich Smith, and a quartet of cats, one of whom reviews feline-related picture books on the Internet. Greg grew up in Chicago. He attended Waters Elementary School, St. Philip Lutheran and Lane Tech. He has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin; and a law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His first novel, Ninjas, Piranhas, And Galileo, is a science comedy for middle readers set in Chicago about three friends who participate in their school science fair and end up in their student court because of it. It is scheduled for publication by Little, Brown in Fall 2003. Website: www.gregleitichsmith.com
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Suzanne Fisher Staples served as a news reporter and editor for United Press International for ten years in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New York, and Washington, DC. She later worked as a foreign news editor for The Washington Post. She returned to Pakistan to assess the lives of poor rural women on an assignment with the United States Agency for International Development. She is the author of a memoir, The Green Dog. Her four novels: Shabanu Daughter of the Wind, a 1990 Newbery Honor book and its sequel, Haveli, as well as Dangerous Skies, and Shiva’s Fire have all won numerous awards. She has been at work on a novel about Afghan refugees set in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Website: www.suzannefisherstaples.com
Ruth Starke
Dr. Starke is a full-time writer and part-time academic. She teaches English at the Flinders University of South Australia, and creative writing at Adelaide TAFE, in schools and at the SA Writers’ Centre. She has published 16 novels for young people, as well as two non-fiction titles, and is a regular book reviewer for journals and radio. Her novel about a multi-cultural cricket team, NIPS XI (published in 2000 and now in its ninth edition) was named Honour Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and won an international UNESCO award for Children’s Books that Promote Tolerance. In 2002, she was awarded the prestigious Carclew Fellowship by the South Australian government in recognition of her achievement in creative writing for young people. Website: www.ruthstarke.itgo.com
Ruth Stotter
Ruth Stotter is the former Director of the Dominican University Storytelling Program (1985–1999), past chairperson of the Folk Narrative Section for the American Folklore Society (1999–2003), and served on the AFS Aesop Prize Committee which selects outstanding children’s books based on Folklore 1994–1997. She has participated in meetings of the International Society of Folk Narrative in Mysore, India and Nairobi, Kenya. She received the first Pacific Region Award from the National Storytelling Association (formerly NAPPS) in 1997, and has conducted workshops for their national conferences on “Symbolism in Fairytales” and “Storytelling with Props”. She has performed on four continents (Great Britain, France, Portugal, Malaysia, Australia, Africa) and produced and hosted “The Oral Tradition” on KUSF-FM in San Francisco 1982–1988. Website: www.ruthstotter.com or www.storyteller.net/tellers/rstotter
Reading the World VII
March 12 & 13, 2005
The illustration by artist, Barbara Hood was donated for our brochure for the seventh conference. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Arnold Adoff
Arnold Adoff discovered his love of words as a child growing up in the Bronx and is the author of over 30 books for children and young adults. He is the winner of the 1988 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. “I read everything in the house and then all I could carry home each week from the libraries I could reach on Bronx buses,” Adoff remembers. After graduating from New York’s City College, Adoff went on to study at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. He was a teacher and counselor in New York City public schools for 12 years and has taught in educational projects at New York University and Connecticut College; experiences that help him capture the reality of childhood in his work. “I just try to create real kids and say real things for real readers,” says Adoff. Some of Adoff’s previous books include Love Letters, a brilliantly conceived collection of witty love poems; black is brown is tan, a SLJ Best Book of 1973, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully; Street Music, a 1995 American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; and Slow Dance Heart Break Blues, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults of 1995. Web Site: www.arnoldadoff.com
Jaime Adoff
Jaime Adoff, son of Arnold Adoff and Hans Christian Anderson Award winner, Virginia Hamilton, is making a name for himself as a young writer. He has written a novel, Names Will Never Hurt Me, and coauthored with Martin French, The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth: a Celebration of Music. Website: www.jaimeadoff.com
Ibtisam S. Barakat
Ibtisam S. Barakat is an award-winning Palestinian-American writer, poet, educator and founder of Write Your Life seminars. She is a bilingual speaker who blends the poetry of Arabic and English, and emphasizes that there is no inherent conflict between humans. Her stories appear in a variety of collections including Jennifer Armstrong’s Shattered and Naomi Shahib Nye’s The Space Between Our Footsteps. Website: www.ibtisambarakat.com
F. Isabel Campoy
F. Isabel Campoy is the author of numerous children’s books in the areas of poetry, theater, stories, biographies, and art. She is a songwriter, storyteller, researcher and author of several books on the culture and civilization of the Hispanic world. Isabel’s poetry has appeared in eleven anthologies. Many of her poems have been put to music by Suni Paz, and appear in the collection Músicaamiga. She is a scholar devoted to the study of language acquisition, with degrees in Philology from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Reading University in England, and UCLA in the United States. She was born in Alicante, Spain, coming to the United States at the age of 16. She is known for her work as a translator and has written many books with Alma Flor Ada. A recent book of hers is Rosa Raposa. Website: www.isabelcampoy.com
Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes, a poet, singer, and fabric artist born in New York City, began writing at age six and has been at it ever since. She is the author of Bronx Masquerade, a Coretta Scott King Author Award winner, Meet Danitra Brown, an ALA Notable, Talkin’ About Bessie, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, as well as Stepping Out with Grandma Mac, Aneesa Lee & the Weaver’s Gift, and Malcolm X: A Force for Change, an NAACP Image Award finalist. Website: www.nikkigrimes.com
Nancy Garden
Nancy Garden is a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing books for young adults. Her books include the breakthrough novel Annie on My Mind, which was burned in Kansas City. It became the subject of a First Amendment lawsuit, brought on by a group of courageous teens who sued to have it retuned to school library shelves. A judge ruled in the book’s favor in 1995. She has written The Year They Burned the Books, and the historical novel Dove and Sword; A Novel of Joan of Arc. She has recently published her first picture book, Molly’s Family. Website: www.nancygarden.com
Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Ruthanne Lum McCunn, educator, librarian, and writer is a native San Franciscan of Chinese and Scottish descent. She grew up in Hong Kong, but returned to the U.S. to attend college. Her first novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold, was made into a well-known movie. Her children’s picture book, Pie-Biter, won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award. Other writings include Sole Survivor, Chinese American Portraits, and Wooden Fish Songs. Her novel, The Moon Pearl, was chosen by the American Library Association as “The Best of the Best.” Website: www.mccunn.com
Pat McKissack
Pat and husband, Fred McKissack, have written over 100 books about the African American experience, winning countless awards for such titles as Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters, Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues, The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, Sojurner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman? and Pat’s own Flossie and the Fox, and Mirandy and Brother Wind. Website: www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/mckissack.html
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Suzanne Fisher Staples served as a news reporter and editor for United Press International for ten years in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New York, and Washington, DC. She later worked as a foreign news editor for The Washington Post. She returned to Pakistan to assess the lives of poor rural women on an assignment with the United States Agency for International Development. She is the author of a memoir, The Green Dog. Her four novels: Shabanu Daughter of the Wind, a 1990 Newbery Honor book and its sequel, Haveli, as well as Dangerous Skies, and Shiva’s Fire have all won numerous awards. She has been at work on a novel about Afghan refugees set in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Website: www.suzannefisherstaples.com
Junko Yokota
Junko Yokota is a Professor of Multicultural Literature K-12 at National-Louis University in Chicago and co-author of Children’s Books in Children’s Hands, (Allyn & Bacon, 2001). Born in Japan, Dr. Yokota came to the United States to attend college. She was an elementary school teacher for ten years before earning a Ph.D. in Reading Education with a minor in children’s literature and library science. She now serves as a consultant to school districts, guiding curriculum development and providing professional development for teachers. Dr. Yokota is a frequently invited speaker and her topics most frequently center on issues of multicultural literature, literacy development of students of diversity, and improving literacy instruction in schools. Her publications also include two columns that review children’s books, as well as journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Yokota is past president of the U.S. national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), and has served on the Newberry, Caldecott, and Batchelder Award Committees, as well as the Notable Books for a Global Society, the Notable Books in the Language Arts and the Parenting Magazine Reading Award Committee. She is an active member of the American Library Association.
Reading the World VIII
March 11 & 12, 2006
The cover of Lon Po Po and some of Ed Young’s other beautiful illustrations were featured on our brochure and program for the eighth conference. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Matthew Gollub
Matthew Gollub is a publisher, author, drummer and linguist. He grew up in Los Angeles, and always knew he wanted to be a writer. During high school he studied in Quito, Ecuador, and later traveled to the Galapagos Islands. While enrolled at the University of the Pacific, he spent a year studying in Japan where he learned to play taiko. Graduating with a degree in International Studies and Japanese Language, he worked as a copywriter, newscaster and translator. His love of jazz, writing and performing are evident in The Jazz Fly, Ten Oni Drummers, and Cool Melons-Turn to Frogs! With Leovigildo Martinez he has written The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats, The Moon Was at a Fiesta, and Uncle Snake. He launched his own Tortuga Press in 1997. Website: www.matthewgollub.com
Linda Sue Park
Linda Sue Park, the daughter of Korean immigrants, was born in Urbana, Illinois and grew up outside of Chicago. She began writing at age four and has since gone on win the Newbery Medal for A Single Shard. Other titles include The Firekeeper’s Son, The Kite Fighters (with illustrations by her father), the novel, When My Name was Keoko, and her latest, Project Mulberry, as well as the picture books, Yum! Yuck!, What does Mommy See? and Mung Mung. She studied at Stanford, then in London, married, taught, and moved back to the U.S. Her career as a children’s author began in 1997 with Seesaw Girl. She currently teaches English as a Second Language. She and her Irish husband, two children, and a Border Terrier named Fergus live in New York. Website: www.lspark.com
Katherine Paterson
photo © Samantha Loomis Paterson
Katherine Paterson, the 1998 recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, also holds two Newbery Medals (Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved), two National Book Awards (The Master Puppeteer, The Great Gilly Hopkins), the Lewis Caroll Shelf Award, and the Scott O’Dell Award for Jip, His Story. Katherine has lived in China, Japan, and the U.S. She attended Kings College in Bristol, Tennessee. Intending to become a missionary, she spent a year teaching in Northern Virginia, then two years in graduate school in Richmond, Virginia. She went back to Japan, returned for study in New York, then met a young pastor whom she married in 1962. In 1964 their Presbyterian church asked her to write curriculum materials. She began writing fiction soon after. She currently lives in Vermont with her husband John. Website: www.terabithia.com
Joyce Carol Thomas
Joyce Carol Thomas , poet, writer, playwright, was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Her family moved to California when she was 10. She graduated from Stanford University and has taught elementary school. She has also taught at the University of California Santa Cruz, Purdue University, and the University of Tennessee. She has traveled in Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe. Her many honors include the National Book Award for Marked by Fire, Coretta Scott King Honors for I Have Heard of a Land and Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea. What ‘s the Hurry Fox? and Other Animal Stories and Hush won Parents’ Choice Awards. She lives in Berkeley, CA. Website: www.joycecarolthomas.com
Tony Watkins
Tony Watkins was the Director of the Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media at the University of Reading, in the U.K. and Director of the university’s M.A. in Children’s Literature. He has lectured widely in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the U.S.A, and has been a regular featured speaker at Children’s Literature New England. His writings are included in Understanding Children’s Literature, Children’s Literature: an Illustrated History, the International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, and the forthcoming Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. He co-edited A Necessary Fantasy? The Heroic Figure in Children’s Popular Culture. His particular interests are representations of space, place and history in children’s literature.
Ed Young
Ed Young is the award winning illustrator and author of many books for children. Among his honors are the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po, whose three sisters graced our brochure cover, and Caldecott honors for The Emperor and the Kite, and Seven Blind Mice. He was born in Tientsin, China. He came to the U.S., graduated from the Los Angeles Art Center where he studied architecture and began his career in advertising. A meeting with the legendary editor Ursula Nordstrom led him into a different world. He has taught at Yale University, Naropa Institute, U.C. Santa Cruz, and the Pratt Institute. Other popular titles are Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes, Cat and Rat, Voices of the Heart, I, Doko, the Tale of a Basket, and the newly released Beyond the Great Mountain. Mr. Young and his wife currently live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Reading the World IX
February 24 & 25, 2007
The ninth conference featured the cover illustration of Debra Frasier’s On the Day You Were Born. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Joseph Bruchac
Joseph Bruchac has been creating works from his Abenaki Indian heritage and Native American traditions for nearly thirty years. He is a graduate of Cornell, holds an M.A. from Syracuse, and a Ph.D. from the Union Institute of Ohio. Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children and others of his “Keepers” series, integrates science and folklore. He is the recipient of a Scientific American Children’s Book Award for The Story of the Milky Way and a Boston Globe/Horn Book honor for The Boy Who Lived with the Bears. He has been recognized for his body of work by a Cherokee Nation prose award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children’s Literature, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award. He and his wife live in New York. Website: www.josephbruchac.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC’s of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
Debra Frasier
Debra Frasier was born in Vero Beach, Florida. Her picture books awards include the Parents Choice Gold Award, a Minnesota Book Award for Illustration, a Hungry Mind Book of Distinction Award, Teacher and Children’s Choice Awards from the International Reading Association, and the Best Children’s Book Award from the Southeastern Booksellers’ Association. She was Director of Animation with the Minnesota Orchestra’s NotesAlive! label on their first video which won the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal. On the Day You Were Born, has been translated into six languages and was a Reading Rainbow Feature Program for PBS. This book, often called “a contemporary classic,” celebrated its tenth anniversary with over one million copies in print. Miss Alaineus, A Vocabulary Disaster, was selected as an Oprah Summer Reading List title. She, her husband, photographer James Henkel, and their daughter live in Minnesota. Website: www.debrafrasier.com
Darwin Henderson
Darwin L. Henderson is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Cincinnati where he holds a joint appointment in Literacy and Early Childhood Education. His research interests lie in 20th and 21st century African American writers and illustrators of literature for children and youth. His research is concentrated in the areas of cultural aesthetics, reviews of literature texts, and interviews of acclaimed authors and illustrators. His articles, reviews, and interviews have appeared in Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Children’s Literature, Children’s Literature in Education, and the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, among others. Darwin is chair of the 2007 Coretta Scott King Book Award jury, a member of the advisory board of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, TN, and co-editor of Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents: Learning to Listen in New Ways.
Yuyi Morales
Yuyi Morales is an artist, author, puppet maker, Brazilian folk dancer, and former host of a Spanish-language storytelling radio show. Born in Veracruz, Mexico, she attended the University of Xalapa, then moved with her husband and son to the United States in 1995. She wrote and illustrated Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, which won the Pura Belpre Award, the Americas Award, Tomas Rivera Award, and the Latino Book Award. She illustrated Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, by Katherine Krull (the Spanish edition translated by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada), which won a second Pura Belpre Award, the Jane Adams Book Award, Christopher Award and was named the Best Book of the Year by numerous organizations, including School Library Journal. Yuyi Morales lives in the Bay Area with her husband and son. Website: www.yuyimorales.com
Teri Sloat
Teri Sloat an author/illustrator was born in Salem, Oregon, graduated from Oregon State University and taught in remote Yup’ik villages in Western Alaska. She worked in one of the first bilingual production centers with Yup’ik elders on stories from oral folklore, The Eye of the Needle, The Hungry Giant of the Tundra, Berry Magic, and Dance on a Sealskin. Teri lives in Sebastopol, CA, but spends part of each year working with native Alaskan writers. She has been instrumental in the Alaska Northwest Books First Language Program, stories translated into the indigenous languages of the north. Her books appear on many state reading lists. She has been honored by ALA, ABA, CCB, BBC, First Alaskans, NY Times Best Books and the Benjamin Franklin Committee. Other books are I’m A Duck, Sody Sallyratus, Hark! the Aardvark Angels Sing! and There was an Old Man who Painted the Sky. Website: www.terisloat.com
Jane Yolen
photo © Jason Stemple
Jane Yolen famed as “the Hans Christian Andersen of America,” is the author of almost 300 books, including Owl Moon, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. She was born in New York City, and graduated from Smith College. Her books include novels, short stories, poetry, nonfiction and cover a range of ages; babies to adult. She has won an assortment of awards; two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, a Caldecott, the Golden Kite Award, three Mythopoeic awards, two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award. She is also the winner (for body of work) of the Kerlan Award and the Catholic Library’s Regina Medal. Five colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates. She is known for her vast imagination and ability to write in many genres She divides her time between Western Massachusetts and Scotland. Website: www.janeyolen.com
Reading the World X
February 16 & 17, 2008
Illustrations from Peter Sís’ Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei were featured on our brochure and program for the tenth anniversary conference. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA “Pick of the Lists” and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents’ Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC’s of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
Sarah Ellis
Vancouver author and librarian, Sarah Ellis has taught courses in contemporary Canadian Children’s Literature and Children’s Fantasy Literature and teaches writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She was a core lecturer and writing seminar leader at the former Children’s Literature New England Summer Institutes. She writes a book review column for Quill and Quire and often for the Horn Book Magazine. Her books include, The Several Lives of Orphan Jack, From Reader to Writer: Teaching Writing Through Classic Children’s Books, and The Queen’s Feet. Awards include the Sheila Egoff award for Back of Beyond, The Baby Project and Odd Man Out, the Mr. Christie Book Award, The I.O.D.E. Violet Downey Award for Out of the Blue, the Governor-General’s Award for, Pick-Up-Sticks, and The Canadian Authors’ Association Vicky Metcalf Award for A Body of Work.
Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has traveled the country and the world leading writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. Her collection, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has written Never in a Hurry, Habibi, Sitti’s Secrets, plus seven prize-winning poetry anthologies for young readers. Among her awards are a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, four Pushcart Prizes, and two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards. She has appeared on two PBS poetry specials with Bill Moyers. Website: www.barclayagency.com/nye
Doris Orgel
Doris Orgel, has 65 books to her credit. Born in Vienna, Austria, her family fled to Yugoslavia, England, and eventually the United States. Her eighth grade teacher encouraged her to write. Her autobiographical novel, The Devil in Vienna, winner of the Sydney Taylor and Golden Kits awards, is the classic story of two best friends, one Jewish, one a member of the Hitler Youth, during WWII. Her translation of Daniel Half Human by David Chotjewitz is a Batchelder honor book. Other titles include The Bremen Town Musicians and Other Animal Tales from Grimm, The Lion and the Mouse: And Other Aesop’s Fables, My Mother’s Daughter’s: Four Goddesses Speak, and Midnight Soup and a Witch’s Hat. She lives in New York. Website: www.nysoclib.org/kids/orgel
Peter Sís
Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. His film work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He illustrated the Newbery Medal Winner, The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleishman and is a six-time winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year for Rainbow Rhino, Beach Ball, Follow the Dream, Komodo!, The Three Golden Keys, and The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin. We are delighted to feature at this year’s conference, Peter’s art from Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, a Caldecott Honor Book that has been published in ten languages. His editorial drawings and illustrations have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Book Review. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, he lives in the New York City area. Website: www.petersis.com
Leslie Tryon
Leslie Tryon is an author and illustrator. Often on the ALA Notable lists, she regularly receives starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus reviews and Publishers Weekly. She won the Ezra Keats Award for Excellence in the Arts. Her Albert’s Alphabet was awarded the International Book Publishing Award, American Institute of Architects. She is the illustrator of the Hidden Forest books written by Alma Flor Ada including, Dear Peter Rabbit, Yours Truly, Goldilocks and With Love, Little Red Hen as well as the new Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest. She lives in Rhode Island. Website: www.leslietryon.com
Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia, winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, is the author of four distinguished novels for young adults: Every Time a Rainbow Dies, Fast Talk on a Slow Track (ALA Best Books for Young Adults), Blue Tights, and Like Sisters on the Homefront. Like Sisters on the Homefront was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a best book of the year by ALA Booklist, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. Rita Williams-Garcia works as a manager in a marketing and media company. She lives in Jamaica, New York. Website: www.ritawg.com
Laurence Yep
Laurence Yep is a native of San Francisco. He attended Marquette University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and received a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has taught creative writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He has published over sixty books for children and adults, including the Newbery Honor books, Dragonwings, and Dragon’s Gate. He won an NEA fellowship in fiction in 1990 and received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 2005. His other titles include Tiger’s Apprentice, When the Circus Came to Town, The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, Later, Gator, Dragon Prince and Child of the Owl whichwon the Jane Addams Award. He lives in Pacific Grove, with his wife, writer Joanne Ryder. Website: www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens
Jack Zipes
Jack Zipes is an author, scholar, teacher, translator, storyteller, activist, and an internationally recognized researcher and critic. He has worked with children’s theaters in France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. A professor of German at the University of Minnesota, Jack has also taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the University of Florida and New York University. His writings include, Don’t Bet on the Prince, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, When Dreams Came True, Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, and Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. He was editor of The Lion and the Unicorn, the Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature, and the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature.
Reading the World XI
March 28 & 29, 2009
The eleventh conference featured some of the delightful characters
created by author/illustrator Rosemary Wells. The conference included the following keynote speakers.
Theresa Breslin
Scottish author, Theresa Breslin is an award-winning writer and librarian. She is committed to promoting reading and writing to young people. Her work is in translation in a number of languages and ranges from young readers to young adult/adult and has been filmed for television and dramatized on radio. She is also a respected contributor to professional journals. Of her books and awards, Simon’s Challenge, her first book, won the Young Book Trust Fidler Award for new writers, Whispers in the Graveyard, her remarkable story about a dyslexic boy, was awarded the Carnegie Medal, and Remembrance, about a youth in World War I, was selected for the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults, and New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age. Website: www.theresabreslin.com
Michael Cart
Michael Cart is a nationally recognized expert in children’s and young adult literature. He was a past President of the Young Adult Library Services Association, and now teaches young adult literature at UCLA. He is also a columnist and reviewer for ALA’s Booklist magazine and the author or editor of eight books, including From Romance to Realism, a critical history of YA literature; My Father’s Scar, a young adult novel (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults), and the anthology Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth, also a Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. He is the recipient of the 2000 Grolier Foundation Award. He lives in northern California.
Sarah Ellis
Vancouver author and librarian, Sarah Ellis has taught courses in contemporary Canadian Children’s Literature and Children’s Fantasy Literature and teaches writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She was a core lecturer and writing seminar leader at the former Children’s Literature New England Summer Institutes. She writes a book review column for Quill and Quire and often for the Horn Book Magazine. Her books include, The Several Lives of Orphan Jack, From Reader to Writer: Teaching Writing Through Classic Children’s Books, and The Queen’s Feet. Awards include the Sheila Egoff award for Back of Beyond, The Baby Project and Odd Man Out, the Mr. Christie Book Award, The I.O.D.E. Violet Downey Award for Out of the Blue, the Governor-General’s Award for, Pick-Up-Sticks, and The Canadian Authors’ Association Vicky Metcalf Award for A Body of Work.
Marilyn Nelson
Poet Marilyn Nelson is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut; founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat, a small writers’ colony; and (2001–2006) Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks. Among her award-winning books, The Homeplace won the Annisfield-Wolf Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Fortune’s Bones was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and won the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry. Carver: A Life in Poems won the Boston Globe/Hornbook Award and the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award. Her honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship and the Connecticut Arts Award. Website: www.blueflowerarts.com
Rosemary Wells
Author/illustrator Rosemary Wells is a passionate and dedicated advocate for literacy and education. Her 150 books for children have received numerous awards and honors that include over twenty ALA Notable Children’s Book citations and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. She began her career in children’s books working as a designer at Macmillan in New York. The success of her second book, Noisy Nora, helped her to earn the reputation as one of today’s bestselling picture book authors. She was surrounded by books as a child and has always recognized the importance of reading and literacy campaigns. Read to Your Bunny, has sold over a million copies. Published in 1998, it was the perfect book to help promote then First Lady Hillary Clinton’s 1997 “Prescription for Reading Program.” The companion book, My Shining Star, shares with every parent and teacher, the ten principles sure to help any child succeed.
Photo: Tim Coffey
Junko Yokota
Dr. Junko Yokota is Professor of Reading and Language at the National College of Education of National-Louis University in Chicago, Illinois, and the Director of the Center for Teaching through Children’s Books. She has been an elementary school teacher, school librarian and has served as a consultant; guiding curriculum development and providing professional development for teachers. A frequently invited speaker at professional conferences throughout the U.S. and in many countries, her publications include Children’s Books in Children’s Hands, two columns that review children’s books, as well as journal articles and book chapters. She has served on the Caldecott and Newbery Award Committees, and is a recipient of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Contribution to Multicultural Literature.
