Pura Belpré Celebración
Let’s celebrate the
winners of this year’s Pura Belpré Award! Hear their voices, meet them, get
their autographed books at the Pura Belpré Celebración.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
1:00- 3:00 PM
Marriott Marquis
Washington, DC
The Pura Belpre Award
honors Latino authors and illustrators whose work best portrays and affirms the
Latino cultural experience in books for children.
The award is named
after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library.
The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996 by REFORMA, is presented annually to
a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and
celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature
for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library
Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association
(ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information
Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.
2019 Author
Award Winner
The Poet X, written by Elizabeth Acevedo and published by
HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
2019 Illustrator
Award Winner
Dreamers, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Yuyi
Morales, and published by Neal Porter Books, Holiday House Publishing, Inc.
2019 Author
Honor Book
They Call Me
Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems, written by David Bowles, and published by Cinco Puntos Press.
2019 Illustrator
Honor Books
Islandborn, illustrated by Leo Espinosa, written by Junot
Díaz, and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Young Readers
Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
When Angels
Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana, illustrated by Jose Ramirez, written by
Michael Mahin, and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
Noche de Cuentos
Celebrating the Power
of Storytelling to Unite Communities
Featuring
award-winning authors and storytellers in an enchanting evening of performances
celebrating and affirming the richness of Latino heritage and culture.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Hispanic Reading Room
- Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson
Building
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Free!
Meg Medina
Meg Medina is the
author of the Newbery Medal–winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which was
also a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist. Her young adult novels include Yaqui Delgado
Wants to Kick Your Ass, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award; Burn Baby
Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could
Silence the Wind. She is also the author of picture books Mango, Abuela, and
Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor
Book, and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra
Jack Keats New Writer Award. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in
Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Yuyi Morales
Born in Yelapa,
Mexico, where she currently resides, Yuyi Morales lived for many years in the
San Francisco Bay Area, where she still maintains close relations with booksellers
and librarians. Professional storyteller, dancer, choreographer, puppeteer, and
artist. She has won the prestigious Pura Belpré Award for Illustration six
times, for Just a Minute, Los Gatos Black on Halloween, Just in Case, Nino
Wrestles the World, Viva Frida - also a Caldecott Honor Book - and Dreamers.
She also illustrated Sherman Alexies Thunder Boy Jr., a New York Times
Bestseller.
Elvia Pérez Nápoles
Elvia Pérez Nápoles
is a world-renowned storyteller, storytelling advocate, author, actress, and
journal editor who has served on the Cuban National Cultural Counsel for more
than two decades. Elvia has received many distinctions and awards for her
contributions in the cultural arena, including the award Cuentacontigo, and the
award Brocal given to her artistic trajectory by the Biennal de Oralidad. Elvia
is the author of From the Winds of Manguito, Desde los vientos de Manguito:
Cuban Folktales in English and Spanish, Cuentos folklóricos de Cuba, edited by
Margaret Read MacDonald (Libraries Unlimited 2004).
