Some of the nation’s top authors and illustrators of children’s books will speak during the 40th Annual Conference on Children’s Literature March 6-7 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.
The conference is a celebration of children’s literature and the culmination of the Georgia Book Award programs that involve thousands of Georgia children in reading every year.
Winners of the Georgia Children’s Book Award and the Georgia Children’s Picture Storybook Award are invited each year to the conference to speak and accept their awards. This year’s conference features Caralyn and Mark Buehner, author and illustrator of Superdog: The Heart of a Hero, winner of the 2008 Children’s Picture Storybook Award; Bryan Collier, two-time Caldecott Honor Medal winner for Rosa (2006) and Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (2002); Paul Janeczko, author of A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, Birds on Wire and Wing Nuts; Gail Carlson Levine, Newbery Honor Medal winner for Ella Enchanted (1998) and Peter Sis, three-time Caldecott Honor Medal winner for The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain (2008), Tibet Through the Red Box (1999) and Starry Messenger (1997).
The conference, sponsored by the College of Education’s department of language and literacy education, is attended by hundreds of K-8th grade teachers and library media specialists, as well as many public librarians from throughout Georgia.
The Georgia Children’s Book Award was established in 1968 by Sheldon Root, a professor in the department of language education. The purpose of the award is to foster a love of reading in the children of Georgia and to introduce them to a collection of books worthy of receiving an award for literary excellence.
In addition to the author sessions, the storyteller luncheon and the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl State Finals, autograph sessions are one of the most popular events of the conference. Typically, each speaker is available for autographs several times during the conference. In addition to books by all of the session speakers, other children’s books and professional books are available for purchase at the conference.
