February 16 & 17, 2008
Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada is Professor Emerita at USF, founder and first Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Assoc. for Bilingual Education (NABE), and award winning author of books for children and adolescents, writes in a variety of genres. Her memoir Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba earned the Pura Belpré Award. My Name is Maria Isabel was a NCSS/CBC Notable Book and ABA "Pick of the Lists" and the Hidden Forest book, Dear Peter Rabbit, won the Parents' Choice Award. Her books for teachers include A Magical Encounter and Authors In the Classroom: Transformative Education for Teachers, Students, and Families. New releases are Pio Peep, I Love Saturdays y domingos and Mamá Goose, A Latino Nursery Treasury. Web Site: www.almaflorada.com
Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan grew up in the Bronx, New York in a house full of storytellers. His parents were from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. With more than 30 books to his credit, he has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum. The Lion and Ostrich, his ABC's of African Tales and What a Morning! were all honor books. He is the recipient of the Arbuthnot Prize, an international achievement award. Ashley has been making books since he was a child. He studied at the Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University. He has taught at Queens College, Lafayette College and Dartmouth. He presently lives on an island off the coast of Maine.
Sarah Ellis
Vancouver author and librarian, Sarah Ellis has taught courses in contemporary Canadian Children's Literature and Children's Fantasy Literature and teaches writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She was a core lecturer and writing seminar leader at the former Children's Literature New England Summer Institutes. She writes a book review column for Quill and Quire and often for the Horn Book Magazine. Her books include, The Several Lives of Orphan Jack, From Reader to Writer: Teaching Writing Through Classic Children's Books, and The Queen's Feet. Awards include the Sheila Egoff award for Back of Beyond, The Baby Project and Odd Man Out, the Mr. Christie Book Award, The I.O.D.E. Violet Downey Award for Out of the Blue, the Governor-General's Award for, Pick-Up-Sticks, and The Canadian Authors' Association Vicky Metcalf Award for A Body of Work.
Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has traveled the country and the world leading writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. Her collection, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has written Never in a Hurry, Habibi, Sitti’s Secrets, plus seven prize-winning poetry anthologies for young readers. Among her awards are a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, four Pushcart Prizes, and two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards. She has appeared on two PBS poetry specials with Bill Moyers. Website: www.barclayagency.com/nye
Doris Orgel
Doris Orgel, has 65 books to her credit. Born in Vienna, Austria, her family fled to Yugoslavia, England, and eventually the United States. Her eighth grade teacher encouraged her to write. Her autobiographical novel, The Devil in Vienna, winner of the Sydney Taylor and Golden Kits awards, is the classic story of two best friends, one Jewish, one a member of the Hitler Youth, during WWII. Her translation of Daniel Half Human by David Chotjewitz is a Batchelder honor book. Other titles include The Bremen Town Musicians and Other Animal Tales from Grimm, The Lion and the Mouse: And Other Aesop’s Fables, My Mother’s Daughter’s: Four Goddesses Speak, and Midnight Soup and a Witch’s Hat. She lives in New York. Website: www.nysoclib.org/kids/orgel
Peter Sís
Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. His film work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He illustrated the Newbery Medal Winner, The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleishman and is a six-time winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year for Rainbow Rhino, Beach Ball, Follow the Dream, Komodo!, The Three Golden Keys, and The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin. We are delighted to feature at this year’s conference, Peter’s art from Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, a Caldecott Honor Book that has been published in ten languages. His editorial drawings and illustrations have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Book Review. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, he lives in the New York City area. Website: www.petersis.com
Leslie Tryon
Leslie Tryon is an author and illustrator. Often on the ALA Notable lists, she regularly receives starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus reviews and Publishers Weekly. She won the Ezra Keats Award for Excellence in the Arts. Her Albert’s Alphabet was awarded the International Book Publishing Award, American Institute of Architects. She is the illustrator of the Hidden Forest books written by Alma Flor Ada including, Dear Peter Rabbit, Yours Truly, Goldilocks and With Love, Little Red Hen as well as the new Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest. She lives in Rhode Island. Website: www.leslietryon.com
Rita Williams-Garcia
Rita Williams-Garcia, winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, is the author of four distinguished novels for young adults: Every Time a Rainbow Dies, Fast Talk on a Slow Track (ALA Best Books for Young Adults), Blue Tights, and Like Sisters on the Homefront. Like Sisters on the Homefront was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a best book of the year by ALA Booklist, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. Rita Williams-Garcia works as a manager in a marketing and media company. She lives in Jamaica, New York. Website: www.ritawg.com
Laurence Yep
Laurence Yep is a native of San Francisco. He attended Marquette University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and received a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has taught creative writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He has published over sixty books for children and adults, including the Newbery Honor books, Dragonwings, and Dragon’s Gate. He won an NEA fellowship in fiction in 1990 and received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 2005. His other titles include Tiger’s Apprentice, When the Circus Came to Town, The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, Later, Gator, Dragon Prince and Child of the Owl whichwon the Jane Addams Award. He lives in Pacific Grove, with his wife, writer Joanne Ryder. Website: www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens
Jack Zipes
Jack Zipes is an author, scholar, teacher, translator, storyteller, activist, and an internationally recognized researcher and critic. He has worked with children's theaters in France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. A professor of German at the University of Minnesota, Jack has also taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the University of Florida and New York University. His writings include, Don't Bet on the Prince, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, When Dreams Came True, Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, and Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. He was editor of The Lion and the Unicorn, the Norton Anthology of Children's Literature, and the four-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature.
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