91´«Ã½

BOSTON – Author Jacqueline Woodson will deliver the 2017 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. The announcement was made today by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), during the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits held Jan. 8 – 11, in Boston.

“Jacqueline Woodson, throughout her career, has shown an unflagging commitment to representing the lives of young people whose ethnicities, socioeconomic, or cultural backgrounds have been historically underrepresented,” stated 2017 Arbuthnot Committee Chair Ellen Hunter Ruffin.

is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir, “Brown Girl Dreaming.” The author of more than two dozen books for young readers, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a recipient of the NAACP Image Award, the 2014 National Book Award winner for young people’s literature, a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

The lecturer, announced annually at the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting, may be an author, illustrator, editor, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, of any country, who shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children’s literature. This paper is delivered as a lecture each April or May, and is subsequently published through Children and Libraries, the journal of ALSC. Once the name is made public, institutions wishing to host the lecture may apply. A library school, department of education in a college or university, or a public library system may be considered. Applications to host the 2017 lecture will be available online from ALSC at this spring.

Members of the 2017 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Committee are: Chair Ellen Hunter Ruffin, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Miss.; Barbara A. Genco, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jessica Tackett MacDonald, Boston Public Library; Susan Person, Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, Broomfield, Colo.; and Danielle A. Shapiro, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library, N.Y.

ALSC is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit their website at .

For more information on the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture and other 91´«Ã½ Youth Media Awards, please visit .

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