91´«Ã½

The 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) has selected Ariana Brown of San Antonio, Texas as the 2020 recipient of the Mary V. Gaver Scholarship.

The $3,000 scholarship was established to honor the memory of a past 91´«Ã½ president and Rutgers University professor, who made many contributions to library youth services. The scholarship is awarded to a person pursuing a master's degree in library and information studies, with a specialty in youth services.

Brown has been a touring poet/performer since 2013. She commented that “spending time in the public library as a child helped me to find my voice as a writer.” She began performing spoken word poetry as a teenager, facilitating writing and performance workshops in partnership with public libraries in her hometown. Brown’s dream is to become a youth librarian, creating the same welcoming environment that she experienced as a young person.

Brown says her goals as a librarian will be similar to her goals as a touring poet — “to create a more equitable world, to honor and help others engage in the power of storytelling, and to empower communities with resources to improve their lives.” She believes that “providing services to all community members regardless of income level or background is imperative.” In addition to writing and performing her own material, Brown also develops and teaches online poetry workshops.

One reference commented that Brown is “an accomplished poet, an active writer and organizer, a thoughtful reader and discussant, and she is dedicated to working with underserved populations through library work.” In speaking about Brown, another reference commented that “as a mentor, teacher, and coach she is inspiring and transformative. She puts all of hers skills and strengths to visioning justice, creating and building vital dialogue across Black, Latinx, and Indigenous histories, generating intersectional feminist frameworks for community, and sparking and sustaining relationships that change rooms, lives, schools, cities, and surely, futures. She sees in librarianship the best of our profession’s possibilities — the power to create just, equitable, and nourishing communities through validating collections, programming, and services.” Yet, another reference commented that “Brown is as impressive a person as she is an artist and teacher. She asserts a presence that is deeply ethical, fully invested, all-in… which she translates rigorously outward toward others, most especially young people in search of a foundation for self-identity they can build a life on, as she has for herself.”

Brown attends the University of North Texas (Denton).

For information on the 91´«Ã½ Scholarship program, visit our .

The 91´«Ã½ manages the 91´«Ã½ Scholarship Clearinghouse.

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