Children’s Literature Conference

In addition to the speeches and panel sessions, children’s literature will be exhibited at the conference. Exhibitors include the McConnell Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, the UK School of Library and Information Science, the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, and Book Wholesalers Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2005) -- Prolific author Walter Dean Myers and acclaimed book illustrator Bryan Collier will be featured at the 37th McConnell Children’s Literature Conference Feb. 18-19. Those attending this year’s conference can attend various children’s literature sessions, including many that emphasize ways to motivate children to read through different types of programming.

The conference, co-sponsored by the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science and Book Wholesalers Inc., will be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel on West Vine Street.

Walter Dean Myers, a native of West Virginia, who spent most of his childhood and young adult life in Harlem as an avid reader, will address the conference at a banquet set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18. His topic will be “Beyond Rap: Language in the Inner City.”

Myers has received several awards for his books. In 2000, his novel “Monster” won the first Printz Award, as well as being named a National Book Award finalist and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award. He has received Newbery honors and eight additional King Awards. Myers has focused more on books for teenagers as his career progressed, receiving the 1994 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. In 2004, Myers published four books, including “Here in Harlem: Poems for Many Voices” and “ Antarctica: Journeys to the South Pole.”

Bryan Collier, a native of Maryland, began painting at 15 and found acclaim not long after winning a national competition which placed his art on exhibition at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. He will address the conference at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19. His topic is “The Power of Art and Expression.”

Collier was awarded a scholarship to the Pratt Institute, where he would later graduate with honors in 1989. Collier’s first attempt at illustrations for a children’s book, “Uptown,” won him the 2001 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award and a Caldecott honor. He has since achieved King Illustrator Award recognition numerous times. A resident of New York City, Collier directs mural programs throughout the city for children who want to paint and visits numerous classes in schools. In 2004, Collier provided illustrations for author Doreen Rappaport’s “John’s Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon.”

For more information, contact Sandy Ireland in UK’s School of Library and Information Science at (859) 257-5926.