The 32nd Annual Conference on Children’s Literature: Nurturing Our Sense of Community is a free, daylong professional development opportunity open to anyone interested in literacy for youth. The training and exposure offered is of particular interest to teachers, including early childhood educators, literacy coaches, library media specialists, public librarians, caregivers and parents. This year, Broward County Libraries celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, along with Hispanic Heritage History Month, by featuring the following distinguished authors:

• Oge Mora is a painter and an award-winning author and illustrator. Her debut book, Thank You, Omu! received a 2019 Caldecott Honor, 2019 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, and a 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award. Thank You, Omu! will be Jumpstart’s Read for the Record book and will be shared across Broward County on November 7, 2019.
• Angela Dominguez is the author and illustrator of several books for children and a two-time recipient of Pura Belpré Illustration Honor. Her debut middle grade novel, Stella Díaz Has Something To Say, was a New York Public Library and a Chicago Public Library pick for Best Books for Kids in 2018, winner of SCBWI Sid Fleischman Award, and an ALA Notable. It is also on the 2019-2020 Sunshine State Readers List.
• Ekua Holmes is a painter, collage artist, and award-winning illustrator of Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets; and The Stuff of Stars. Her books have won the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, a 2016 Caldecott Medal Honor, the 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and the 2019 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Currently Holmes serves as Assistant Director of MassArt’s Center for Art and Community Partnerships and manages its ArtMobile.
• Lucía M. González is an accomplished storyteller, puppeteer, librarian, and author. She is the author of several award-winning bilingual books, including The Bossy Gallito winner of the Pura Belpré Award Honor; Señor Cat’s Romance and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America, an Americas Award Commended Title; and The Storyteller’s Candle, winner of the Pura Belpré Award Honor. Gonzalez was named the 1998 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumna by the University of South Florida School of Library and Information Science. She was the President of REFORMA in 2010-2011.

Virtual Visits presented by Miami Book Fair will feature:

• Jarod Roselló is a writer, cartoonist, and teacher. He is the author of graphic novels for children and adults, including The Well-Dressed Bear Will (Never) be Found, Red Panda & Moon Bear, and the forthcoming Those Bears. Jarod holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in language and literacy development, both from Pennsylvania State University. Originally from Miami, he now lives in Tampa and teaches in the creative writing program at University of South Florida.
• Walter Naegle, is one of the authors of Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, The Man Behind the March on Washington. Walter Naegle was Bayard Rustin’s partner during the last decade of Rustin’s life (1977-87), is executive director of the Bayard Rustin Fund, and is one of the authors of Bayard Rustin, The Invisible Activist, a biography for young people. Rustin was a lifelong activist for peace and justice, a fearless nonviolent resistor whose story is inspiring, educational, and very relevant today. Although he is known primarily as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, his activism also included work in peace, labor, immigrant rights, and LGBT rights. He was a close advisor to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and drew up the founding documents for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was the genius behind The Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957), two Youth Marches for Integrated Schools (1958, ’59), and the 1964 School Boycott in New York City.

Additional information available HERE.