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2 COGNOTES DENVER 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 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.
Junot Diaz
Sunday 2/11, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
CCC Mile High Ballroom 2&3
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.
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.
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. 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.
Dave Eggers
Saturday 2/10, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
CCC Mile High Ballroom 2&3
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.
Youth Media Awards
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.
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.
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