This week, Oge Mora receives an Ezra Jack Keats Award; Neal Porter reflects on 40 years in publishing; Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu come out of the shadows; Mercy Watson makes an appearance; and a Boston Marathon legend celebrates a new picture book about her run.
In Honor
The 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award ceremony took place on April 4 during the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Oge Mora (l.), author-illustrator of Thank You, Omu! (Little, Brown), was awarded the 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award for illustrator. Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall (r.), winner of the 2003 Ezra Jack Keats Award for illustrator, presented Mora with her award.
A Storied History
Neal Porter (r.), v-p and publisher of Holiday House’s Neal Porter Books imprint, delivered the ninth annual Barbara Elleman Research Library Lecture at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Books on April 13. The lecture was titled “Notes on 40 Years in Children’s Publishing.” Here, Porter is joined by colleagues and longtime friends: (from l.) Steven Kellogg, Elleman, Jane Yolen, Patricia MacLachlan, and Susan Cooper.
Making Magic
Fans packed a church in Austin, Tex., on April 9 to meet authors Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu, authors of The Red Scrolls of Magic (S&S/McElderry), a Shadowhunters novel and the first book in The Eldest Curses series. Clare and Chu signed books and spoke in conversation with moderator Katie Bartow from Mundie Moms. Fans were also treated to a Shadowhunters trivia contest prior to the book signing.
Mercy, Mercy Me
Chris Van Dusen and Kate DiCamillo presented to readers at BookPeople in Austin on April 16. Joining the author and illustrator was their porcine title character from A Piglet Named Mercy (Candlewick), a picture book prequel to the Mercy Watson series.
No Fear
Kim Chaffee and Ellen Rooney, author and illustrator of Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon (Page Street Kids) took part in festivities leading up to the Boston Marathon at the Runner’s World popup in Boston on April 12. Joining Chaffee and Rooney was the subject of the book, Kathrine Switzer—athlete, founder of the nonprofit organization 261 Fearless, and author of Marathon Woman, which recounts her experience running the marathon in 1967. (From l.): Rooney, Switzer, and Chaffee took part in a panel discussion called “Kathrine Switzer and the Stories That Empower Us.”
