March 12 & 13, 2005
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
Arnold Adoff
Arnold Adoff discovered his love of words as a child growing up in the Bronx and is the author of over 30 books for children and young adults. He is the winner of the 1988 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. "I read everything in the house and then all I could carry home each week from the libraries I could reach on Bronx buses," Adoff remembers. After graduating from New York's City College, Adoff went on to study at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. He was a teacher and counselor in New York City public schools for 12 years and has taught in educational projects at New York University and Connecticut College; experiences that help him capture the reality of childhood in his work. "I just try to create real kids and say real things for real readers," says Adoff. Some of Adoff's previous books include Love Letters, a brilliantly conceived collection of witty love poems; black is brown is tan, a SLJ Best Book of 1973, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully; Street Music, a 1995 American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; and Slow Dance Heart Break Blues, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults of 1995. Web Site: www.arnoldadoff.com
Jaime Adoff
Jaime Adoff, son of Arnold Adoff and Hans Christian Anderson Award winner, Virginia Hamilton, is making a name for himself as a young writer. He has written a novel, Names Will Never Hurt Me, and coauthored with Martin French, The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth: a Celebration of Music. Website: www.jaimeadoff.com
Ibtisam S. Barakat
Ibtisam S. Barakat is an award-winning Palestinian-American writer, poet, educator and founder of Write Your Life seminars. She is a bilingual speaker who blends the poetry of Arabic and English, and emphasizes that there is no inherent conflict between humans. Her stories appear in a variety of collections including Jennifer Armstrong's Shattered and Naomi Shahib Nye's The Space Between Our Footsteps. Website: www.ibtisambarakat.com
F. Isabel Campoy
F. Isabel Campoy is the author of numerous children's books in the areas of poetry, theater, stories, biographies, and art. She is a songwriter, storyteller, researcher and author of several books on the culture and civilization of the Hispanic world. Isabel's poetry has appeared in eleven anthologies. Many of her poems have been put to music by Suni Paz, and appear in the collection Músicaamiga. She is a scholar devoted to the study of language acquisition, with degrees in Philology from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Reading University in England, and UCLA in the United States. She was born in Alicante, Spain, coming to the United States at the age of 16. She is known for her work as a translator and has written many books with Alma Flor Ada. A recent book of hers is Rosa Raposa. Website: www.isabelcampoy.com
Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes, a poet, singer, and fabric artist born in New York City, began writing at age six and has been at it ever since. She is the author of Bronx Masquerade, a Coretta Scott King Author Award winner, Meet Danitra Brown, an ALA Notable, Talkin' About Bessie, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, as well as Stepping Out with Grandma Mac, Aneesa Lee & the Weaver's Gift, and Malcolm X: A Force for Change, an NAACP Image Award finalist. Website: www.nikkigrimes.com
Nancy Garden
Nancy Garden is a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing books for young adults. Her books include the breakthrough novel Annie on My Mind, which was burned in Kansas City. It became the subject of a First Amendment lawsuit, brought on by a group of courageous teens who sued to have it retuned to school library shelves. A judge ruled in the book's favor in 1995. She has written The Year They Burned the Books, and the historical novel Dove and Sword; A Novel of Joan of Arc. She has recently published her first picture book, Molly's Family. Website: www.nancygarden.com
Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Ruthanne Lum McCunn, educator, librarian, and writer is a native San Franciscan of Chinese and Scottish descent. She grew up in Hong Kong, but returned to the U.S. to attend college. Her first novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold, was made into a well-known movie. Her children's picture book, Pie-Biter, won the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. Other writings include Sole Survivor, Chinese American Portraits, and Wooden Fish Songs. Her novel, The Moon Pearl, was chosen by the American Library Association as "The Best of the Best." Website: www.mccunn.com
Pat McKissack
Pat and husband, Fred McKissack, have written over 100 books about the African American experience, winning countless awards for such titles as Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters, Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues, The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, Sojurner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? and Pat's own Flossie and the Fox, and Mirandy and Brother Wind. Website: www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/mckissack.html
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Suzanne Fisher Staples served as a news reporter and editor for United Press International for ten years in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New York, and Washington, DC. She later worked as a foreign news editor for The Washington Post. She returned to Pakistan to assess the lives of poor rural women on an assignment with the United States Agency for International Development. She is the author of a memoir, The Green Dog. Her four novels: Shabanu Daughter of the Wind, a 1990 Newbery Honor book and its sequel, Haveli, as well as Dangerous Skies, and Shiva's Fire have all won numerous awards. She has been at work on a novel about Afghan refugees set in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Website: www.suzannefisherstaples.com
Junko Yokota
Junko Yokota is a Professor of Multicultural Literature K-12 at National-Louis University in Chicago and co-author of Children's Books in Children's Hands, (Allyn & Bacon, 2001). Born in Japan, Dr. Yokota came to the United States to attend college. She was an elementary school teacher for ten years before earning a Ph.D. in Reading Education with a minor in children's literature and library science. She now serves as a consultant to school districts, guiding curriculum development and providing professional development for teachers. Dr. Yokota is a frequently invited speaker and her topics most frequently center on issues of multicultural literature, literacy development of students of diversity, and improving literacy instruction in schools. Her publications also include two columns that review children's books, as well as journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Yokota is past president of the U.S. national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), and has served on the Newberry, Caldecott, and Batchelder Award Committees, as well as the Notable Books for a Global Society, the Notable Books in the Language Arts and the Parenting Magazine Reading Award Committee. She is an active member of the American Library Association.
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