91´«Ã½

CHICAGO – The Ethnic and Multicultural Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) and the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee will celebrate the best in children’s and young adult literature representing the African-American experience at the 2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast from 7 - 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28 in the Sheraton New Orleans Napoleon Ballroom at the 2011 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference.

This year’s celebration will feature Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia (“One Crazy Summer,” Amistad, 2010), Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Bryan Collier (“Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave,” Little, Brown, and Company, 2010), John Steptoe New Talent Award winners Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon, ( Zora and Me,” Candlewick, 2010), and Sonia Lynn Sadler, (“Seeds of Change,” Lee & Low, Inc., 2010).

2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Honor Books will also be recognized, including Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book recipients Walter Dean Myers (“Lockdown,” Amistad, 2010), Jewell Parker Rhodes (“Ninth Ward,” Little, Brown, and Company, 2010), and G. Neri (“Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty,” Lee & Low, Inc., 2010)and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book recipient Javaka Steptoe (“Jimi,” written by Gary Golio, Clarion, 2010).

Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita at the University of South Florida, School of Library and Information Science and recipient of the 2011 Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement will also be honored. Dr. Smith began her career in 1943 as a children’s librarian in New York City, earned her doctorate and became the first African-American faculty member at the University of South Florida, School of Information, where she continues to serve as professor emerita since her retirement in 1993. She has served in numerous capacities within the 91´«Ã½ and has served on award selection committees for the John Newbery Medal, the Randolph Caldecott Medal, the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the Pura Belpré Award. As part of the Coretta Scott King Task Force since its inception, Smith has edited four volumes about the history of the award.

Tickets are $60 and include breakfast. To register, visit , registration code 91´«Ã½3. Tickets will be available from the 91´«Ã½ Registration Desk at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center until Sunday, June 26, noon.

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the 91´«Ã½’s Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) to African American authors and illustrators to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts.

To learn more about the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, please visit .