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2 COGNOTES JANUARY 2017 PREVIEW
Daina Ramey Berry to Keynote 2017 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunrise Celebration
Historian Dr. Daina Ramey Berry will deliver the keynote during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance and Sunrise Celebration during ALA’s 2017 Midwinter Meeting and Exhibition in Atlanta. The 2017 Celebration will take place on Monday, January 23 6:30 – 7:30 a.m. in the Georgia World Congress Center, under the theme “Freedom Ain’t Never Been Free.”
A longstanding tradition and highlight at Midwinter, the 2017 Sunrise Celebration will bring together leaders from across the association, including 2016-17 ALA President Dr. Julie Todaro and ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. Featured readings will include selected passages from the works of King. Cynthia P. Lewis, Director of Archives at King Library and Archives in Atlanta, will deliver the welcome address.
Berry is Associate Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies and the Oliver H. Radkey Regents Fellow in History at the University of Texas at Austin. Berry is a specialist in the history of gender and slavery in the United States with a particular emphasis on the social and economic history of the 19th century. Her forthcoming book, The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from the Womb to the Grave, in the Building of a Nation (Beacon Press, January 2017) offers a groundbreaking look at slaves as commodities through every phase of life, from birth to death and beyond, in early America.
In addition to her scholarly writing and editing, Berry has appeared on several syndicated radio and television shows including NPR, NBC, PBS, C-SPAN, and the History Channel. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Association of University Women, the Ford Foundation, and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
Berry will be joined by Call-to-Action Speaker Patricia M.Y. (Patty) Wong, County Librarian of the Yolo County (Calif.) Library System. Wong’s decades-long career, from her early days as a children’s librarian in Oakland to her present position as County Librarian and Chief Archivist for Yolo County, has borne witness to her tireless commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and community-centered engagement. Wong is known for her work for the California State Library on initiatives for service to diverse communities, including the writing of several seminal publications. She is a Past-President of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) and has been an active member and advocate of the five ethnic caucus associations since 1990, in addition to her service on several ALA committees and elected positions on ALA Council and the ALA Executive Board. Wong has received several awards in recognition of her contributions to the profession, including the ALA Equality Award and the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) Advocacy Award.
Coffee and tea will be served. Attendance is open to all Midwinter attendees.
The Sunrise Celebration is coordinated by the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Task Force, the Black Caucus of ALA, Inc., and the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. Berry’s participation is made possible by Beacon Press.
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Author Kwame Alexander to Speak at ALA President’s Program
Kwame Alexander – poet, educator, and award-winning, bestselling author of 24 books for children of all ages, including the 2015 Newbery Medal- winning The Crossover, the New York Times bestselling novel Booked, and the forthcoming collection of personal essays and basketball rules The Playbook – joins ALA President Julie Todaro as speaker at the President’s Program on Sunday, January 22 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Attendees can look forward to hearing how Alexander’s work is inspired by his belief that poetry can change the world, and how he uses poetry to inspire and empower young people all over the world. His latest project pairs his uplifting poetry with more than 100 stunning photos of the world’s endangered animals in the photo-illustrated book Animal Ark: Celebrating Our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures. The poetry and photographs by acclaimed National Geographic photographer and founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark Joel Sartore, speak to children of the importance of conservation and the beauty of the animal kingdom. Animal Ark is inspired by The Photo Ark, a multiyear effort with Sartore and the National Geographic Society to document every animal species under human care, with special attention given to those facing extinction.
Alexander, a regular speaker at schools and conferences, recently served as the Bank Street College of Education Center for Children’s Literature’s Inaugural Dorothy Carter Writer-in-Residence. He leads an annual delegation of writers, educators, and activists to Ghana as part of LEAP for Ghana, an International literacy program he co-founded that builds libraries and provides literacy professional development for teachers. He also travels widely to other places such as Singapore, Brazil, Italy, France, and Shanghai to share his love of literature.
Alexander’s appearance is sponsored by National Geographic Books.
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Share Your Story at Midwinter
Ahead of the announcements of the winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, the American Library Association is launching its #ShareTheStory campaign highlighting the six 2017 shortlist titles and how they remind us of the power of stories. Now through June 1, 2017, readers are encouraged to tell us their own stories about their lives, communities and histories and how they relate to these titles.
From violence to joy, from poverty to friendship, these six books hold a mirror to our lives and drive home how we are shaped both by the forces inside us and outside of our control. Pick a character, a passage, or open the book at random and choose a quote; then tell us what it means to you – in a sentence, in a picture, in a video, in a song. Post to Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook using #ala_carnegie and #ShareTheStory to share and discover how these books demonstrate the influence of stories on our culture.
More information on how to share your story can be found on the Share The Story homepage at ala.org/share-the-story.
We will be featuring your shared stories at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, January 20 – 24 at the RUSA Book and Media Awards Ceremony and at ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago, June 22–27 where we will celebrate the two winning authors and titles.
The Medals are made possible, in part, by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world, and are co-sponsored by ALA’s Booklist and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association.
