March 11 & 12, 2006
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
Matthew Gollub
Matthew Gollub is a publisher, author, drummer and linguist. He grew up in Los Angeles, and always knew he wanted to be a writer. During high school he studied in Quito, Ecuador, and later traveled to the Galapagos Islands. While enrolled at the University of the Pacific, he spent a year studying in Japan where he learned to play taiko. Graduating with a degree in International Studies and Japanese Language, he worked as a copywriter, newscaster and translator. His love of jazz, writing and performing are evident in The Jazz Fly, Ten Oni Drummers, and Cool Melons-Turn to Frogs! With Leovigildo Martinez he has written The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats, The Moon Was at a Fiesta, and Uncle Snake. He launched his own Tortuga Press in 1997. Website: www.matthewgollub.com
Linda Sue Park
Linda Sue Park, the daughter of Korean immigrants, was born in Urbana, Illinois and grew up outside of Chicago. She began writing at age four and has since gone on win the Newbery Medal for A Single Shard. Other titles include The Firekeeper's Son, The Kite Fighters (with illustrations by her father), the novel, When My Name was Keoko, and her latest, Project Mulberry, as well as the picture books, Yum! Yuck!, What does Mommy See? and Mung Mung. She studied at Stanford, then in London, married, taught, and moved back to the U.S. Her career as a children's author began in 1997 with Seesaw Girl. She currently teaches English as a Second Language. She and her Irish husband, two children, and a Border Terrier named Fergus live in New York. Website: www.lspark.com
Katherine Paterson
photo © Samantha Loomis Paterson
Katherine Paterson, the 1998 recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, also holds two Newbery Medals (Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved), two National Book Awards (The Master Puppeteer, The Great Gilly Hopkins), the Lewis Caroll Shelf Award, and the Scott O'Dell Award for Jip, His Story. Katherine has lived in China, Japan, and the U.S. She attended Kings College in Bristol, Tennessee. Intending to become a missionary, she spent a year teaching in Northern Virginia, then two years in graduate school in Richmond, Virginia. She went back to Japan, returned for study in New York, then met a young pastor whom she married in 1962. In 1964 their Presbyterian church asked her to write curriculum materials. She began writing fiction soon after. She currently lives in Vermont with her husband John. Website: www.terabithia.com
Joyce Carol Thomas
Joyce Carol Thomas , poet, writer, playwright, was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Her family moved to California when she was 10. She graduated from Stanford University and has taught elementary school. She has also taught at the University of California Santa Cruz, Purdue University, and the University of Tennessee. She has traveled in Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe. Her many honors include the National Book Award for Marked by Fire, Coretta Scott King Honors for I Have Heard of a Land and Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea. What 's the Hurry Fox? and Other Animal Stories and Hush won Parents' Choice Awards. She lives in Berkeley, CA. Website: www.joycecarolthomas.com
Tony Watkins
Tony Watkins was the Director of the Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media at the University of Reading, in the U.K. and Director of the university's M.A. in Children's Literature. He has lectured widely in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the U.S.A, and has been a regular featured speaker at Children's Literature New England. His writings are included in Understanding Children's Literature, Children's Literature: an Illustrated History, the International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, and the forthcoming Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. He co-edited A Necessary Fantasy? The Heroic Figure in Children's Popular Culture. His particular interests are representations of space, place and history in children's literature.
Ed Young
Ed Young is the award winning illustrator and author of many books for children. Among his honors are the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po, whose three sisters graced our brochure cover, and Caldecott honors for The Emperor and the Kite, and Seven Blind Mice. He was born in Tientsin, China. He came to the U.S., graduated from the Los Angeles Art Center where he studied architecture and began his career in advertising. A meeting with the legendary editor Ursula Nordstrom led him into a different world. He has taught at Yale University, Naropa Institute, U.C. Santa Cruz, and the Pratt Institute. Other popular titles are Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes, Cat and Rat, Voices of the Heart, I, Doko, the Tale of a Basket, and the newly released Beyond the Great Mountain. Mr. Young and his wife currently live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
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