Cognotes 2018 Annual Conference Highlights - 10

10

COGNOTES

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2018 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS

President's Program Welcomes Tracy K. Smith and Jose Vargas

Tracy K. Smith
By Wendy Bundy, Clarion University, PA

Author and poet Tracy K. Smith, opening
speaker at the June 24 ALA Awards Presentation and President's Program, feels poems
have a unique way of helping people work
through obstacles. Although poetry can be
very personal and moving for individuals,
Smith highlighted how it is a community
tool. "I often tell my students who are eager
to start the process of becoming poets, that
investing in the work of peers can really be
like sustenance along the long and meandering path toward publishing your first book."
Smith was quick to note that most of the
resistance to poetry has to do with subject
matter. "However, these are conversations that
we, as a society, need to be having. They are
conversations based in our history. We cannot
move forward in society without acknowledging this past and these stories, and poetry is
an outlet that allows for multiple stories to
be told in one."
"Poetry focuses on the story, jumping

Jose Antonio Vargas

right in from the start," Smith said. "This is
why I selected prose for my memoir instead."
She said she wanted to tell the entire truth,
not jumping right into the story or leaping
away from it either. Her memoir, Ordinary
Light, comes out in September.
Jose Antonio Vargas came to the United
States from the Philippines at the age of 12.
Now, as an established journalist, he helps
people understand why he does not apply
for and become a U.S. citizen. It's a question
that he is often asked. The fact that so many
people do not understand the process or the
obstacles he has encountered gives him cause
to continue to tell his story.
Vargas has found that people expect him,
as well as other immigrants, to "earn citizenship." The issue is far more complex. "With
the stigma surrounding illegal immigrants,
people like me are being detained and deported. We are not being asked to speak at
the American Library Association." His story
is relevant and important, but he was advised
strongly not to tell it. "After talking to 28

lawyers, all of whom said not to do it, the
more they said don't do it, the more I thought
I should do it," Vargas said. "I outed myself."
His book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, will be available this fall.

"I have never seen a therapist before, and the
book was the biggest therapy I could have
ever given myself." This book is not only for
him, but also for all those who will learn
from his story.

Coretta Scott King Book
Awards to Mark 50 Years
In 2019, the American Library Association (ALA) will celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards.
Given annually, the awards serve as a guide
for parents, librarians, and caregivers, for
the most outstanding books for youth by
African American authors and illustrators
that affirm African American culture and
universal human values.  
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards
were established in 1969 by Glyndon Flynt
Greer, a school librarian in Englewood, N.J.;
Mabel McKissack, a school librarian in New
London, Conn.; and John Carroll, a book

Mayor LaToya Cantrell on NOLA Libraries Post-Katrina

publisher. These three founders envisioned
an award that would recognize the talents
of outstanding African American authors
and encourage them to continue writing
books for children and young adults. The
award commemorates the life and work of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his
wife, Coretta Scott King, for her courage
and determination to continue the work for
peace and world brotherhood.
Winners are selected by the Coretta Scott
King Book Awards Jury and announced
annually to a waiting national audience at
the ALA Youth Awards Press Conference,
held on the Monday of the ALA Midwinter
Meeting. Award recipients are selected within
three categories, including the Coretta Scott
King (Author) Book Award, Coretta Scott
King (Illustrator) Book Award and Coretta
Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award.
The awards are sponsored by ALA Ethnic and
Multicultural Information Exchange Round
Table  (EMIERT) and supported by ALA's
Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach
Services (ODLOS).
The first Coretta Scott King Award was
presented in 1970 at the New Jersey Library
Association conference in Atlantic City, N.J.
The award went to Lillie Patterson, author
of Martin Luther King Jr.: Man of Peace. In
1974, the committee honored an illustrator
for the first time. The award went to George
Ford for his illustrations in Ray Charles by
» see page 13
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