Some of the nation’s top authors and illustrators of children’s books will speak during the 38th annual Conference on Children’s Literature April 20-21 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.
The popular 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.
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 Marion Dane Bauer, winner of the 2006 Georgia Children’s Book Award for Runt and author of On My Honor, a Newbery Honor Book; Keiko Kasza, winner of the 2006 Georgia Picture Storybook Award for My Lucky Day; Patricia Polacco, author of Pink and Say, Chicken Sunday and Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare; Chris Soentpiet, award-winning illustrator of Coolies and Saturdays and Teacakes; and Jane Yolen, award-winning author of The Devil’s Arithmetic, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and the Caldecott Medal-winning picture book Owl Moon.
The conference, sponsored by the College of Education’s department of language and literacy education, is attended by hundreds of K-8 grade teachers and library media specialists as well as many public librarians throughout Georgia.
The Georgia Children’s Book Award was established in 1968 by Sheldon Root, a professor in UGA’s department of language education.