Walter Dean Myers will serve as the honorary chair of the annual children's art auction at BEA in an effort to raise funds to support the free speech rights of kids.

Sponsored by the ABC Children’s Group at the American Booksellers Association, the proceeds of the June 6 auction and reception at the Javits Convention Center in New York City will help support the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and its Kids’ Right to Read Project, which opposes the hundreds of challenges to books that occur in schools and libraries every year. “Over the years, I’ve seen censorship grow,” Myers said recently. “The bottom line is that the America we love needs our support. We have to stand up and be counted.”

Tickets for the auction and reception are $95 ($75 for bookseller members of the ABC Children’s Group) and can be purchased here.