ALA Cognotes January Preview - 2

DENVER

COGNOTES

JANUARY PREVIEW

Junot Díaz to Speak Sunday Morning
Junot Díaz is the author of the critically
acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life
of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer
Prize and the National Book Critics Circle
Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a
New York Times bestseller and National
Book Award finalist. By self-admission,
Díaz is an agonizingly slow writer and
a chronic procrastinator. He once spent
Junot Diaz
Sunday 2/11, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
CCC Mile High Ballroom 2&3

five years working on a 15-page story. But
he said, "In my view, a writer is a writer
because even when there is no hope, even
when nothing you do shows any sign of
promise, you keep writing anyway." The
session will take place on Sunday, February
11 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. at the ALA
Midwinter Meeting.
Islandborn is Díaz' first work of fiction
for young readers, a picture book illustrated
by Leo Espinosa, scheduled for release in
February 2018. Little Lola is asked to draw
a picture of her home country for school.
To help with her assignment, she asks her
family, friends, and neighbors for their
recollections of the Island. What emerges
is a stunning portrait of a place that Lola
once called home, and the magic that
comes when culture, tradition, and stories
are passed down and shared. The book
offers a diverse portrait of characters who
have migrated to New York from all around
the world, and shows the importance of
community as they support each other,
and their respective cultures.

Youth Media Awards
Junot Díaz
(Photo by Nina Subin)

Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican
Republic and raised in New Jersey. He
serves on the board of advisers for Freedom University, a volunteer organization
in Georgia that provides post-secondary
instruction to undocumented immigrants.
An immigrant himself, this is a topic he is
very passionate about, and one he considers
very timely.
A graduate of Rutgers University, Díaz is
currently the fiction editor at Boston Review,
and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor
of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Díaz's appearance at the meeting is
sponsored by Penguin Young Readers. Get
details and add to your schedule now.

Each year the American Library Association honors books, videos, and other
outstanding materials for children and teens.
Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the ALA Youth Media
Awards, including the prestigious Newbery,
Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King
Book Awards, guide parents, educators,
librarians, and others in selecting the best
materials for youth. Selected by committees
composed of librarians and other literature
and media experts, the awards encourage
original and creative work in the field of
children's and young adult literature and
media.The 2018 Youth Media Award announcements will take place on Monday,
February 12 at 8:00 a.m. from the Colorado
Convention Center. Fans can follow 2018
results in real-time via live webcast, or follow
hashtag #alayma.

Award-winning Author Dave Eggers to Speak Saturday
Join a conversation with author Dave Eggers, and Sandra Farag, youth materials selector
at the New York Public Library and Brooklyn
Public Library.
Eggers is an award-winning and acclaimed
author of many books, including What Is
the What, winner of France's Prix Medici and
finalist for the National Book Critics Circle
Award; and more recently The Circle and
Heroes of the Frontier, long listed for the 2018
International Dublin Literary Award. The
session will take place on Saturday, February
10 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. during the 2018
ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits.
Eggers will discuss his spicture book, Her
Right Foot, a fascinating, non-fiction tale,
uniquely American in its frank tone. Eggers
and debut illustrator Shawn Harris investigate
a seemingly small trait of America's most
emblematic statue, her raised right foot.
What they find is the powerful message of
acceptance essential to the story of America.

Dave Eggers
Saturday 2/10, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
CCC Mile High Ballroom 2&3

Dave Eggers

Eggers writes, "Liberty and freedom from
oppression are not things you get or grant
by standing around like some kind of statue.
No! These are things that require movement.
And adaptation. And more than anything
else, it's unfinished business. It never ends!"
In response to the heightened concern for the
rights of immigrants and refugees seeking to
enter the U.S., the creators received an accelerated release date.
Eggers's new adult, non-fiction book
to be released in late January from Knopf
Books, The Monk of Mokha is a heartpounding, true story weaving together the
history of coffee, the struggles of everyday

Yemenis living through a civil war, and the
courageous journey of a young man, a Muslim and a U.S. citizen, following the most
American of dreams.
Eggers is the co-founder of 826 National,
a network of seven educational centers
throughout the U.S., offering free tutoring
to children of all backgrounds. Later he
co-founded ScholarMatch, a nonprofit organization connecting students with resources,
donors and colleges to make higher education
possible for those in low-income communities. Currently over two hundred students are
now enrolled in college, with a 97 percent
retention rate.
Other awards include the TED Prize for
his work in education, Amnesty International
Chair, the Heinz Award, the National Book
Foundation's Literarian Award, Germany's
Albatross Award, the National Magazine
Award for Fiction, and he has been named
one of "Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential
People" in the world. He is also a member of
the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
an honor society of the country's 250 leading
architects, artists, composers, and writers.
Sponsored by Chronicle Books. Get details
and add to your schedule now.

ALA Youth Media Awards
Monday 2/12, 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.
CCC Mile High Ballroom 2&3

Look for your commemorative issue of
Cognotes, featuring a complete list of award
winners and book cover photos, immediately
following the announcements in Denver.
Get details and add to your schedule now.

Acevedo
» from page 1

Her passion for poetry has manifested in an increasing body of popular
poetry videos, most of which have
gone viral and been picked up by
PBS, Latina Magazine, Cosmopolitan
Magazine, and Upworthy Magazine.
She said, "I commit wholeheartedly

Her passion
for poetry has
manifested in an
increasing body
of popular poetry
videos, most of which
have gone viral.
to the mission that my mother's stories will not die with her. I believe
wholeheartedly telling my own story
is an act of love and survival." Many
of her poems have been published, or
are forthcoming in Puerto Del Sol,
the Callaloo Journal, Poet Lore, Notre
Dame Review, and others.
Acevedo is a National Slam Champion, Beltway Grand Slam Champion, a Cave Canem Fellow, Cantomundo Fellow, and participant of the
Callaloo Writer's Workshop. She is
the author of two poetry collections:
Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths and
Medusa Reads La Negra's Palm, winner of the 2016 Berkshire Prize. A
novel, The Poet X I is scheduled for
release in early 2018.
Acevedo's appearance is sponsored
by HarperCollins Children's Books.
Get details and add to your schedule
now.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ALA Cognotes January Preview