Recently an author accepted an award at a ceremony, a publisher hosted a reading party, a nonprofit partnered with authors for a panel, and an author held a launch event.
A ‘Historic’ Win
On June 10, the New York Historical hosted a ceremony to award the Annual Children’s History Book Prize to author Doan Phuong Nguyen for her book A Two-Placed Heart (Tu Books). The award is given to the best American history book for middle readers, along with a prize of $10,000. A Two-Placed Heart follows tween Bom as she writes a memoir to help her sister cherish their Vietnamese heritage. Here, Phoung (l.) accepts her medal from board chair Agnes Hsu-Tang.
An Epic Queer Party
On June 27, HarperCollins hosted an “Epic Pride Summer Friday Reading Party” featuring several authors across its Epic Reads, Avon, Voyager, and Mariner imprints and their works centering LGBTQ+ characters and stories. Authors spoke about the impact of queer literature and their new and forthcoming books. Guests were invited to choose from a selection of titles of the authors and enjoy a reading sprint, in which they read their individual picks on their own for 20 minutes. Here (back row, from l.) authors Mason Deaver, Brian D. Kennedy, (front row, from l.) Ruben Reyes Jr., Zakiya N. Jamal, Becky Albertalli, Ava Reid, and Alexandria Bellefleur.
Spread the Magic
On June 26, several authors partnered with nonprofit literacy organization We Need Diverse Books for a digital panel series titled “Magic Stories Are for Everyone,” to raise money in support of trans and nonbinary youth and creators. Here, panelists (top row, from l.) Dhonielle Clayton, Shannon Messenger, Claribel A. Ortega, (middle row, from l.) Charlie Jane Anders, Dana Simpson, George Jreije, (bottom row, from l.) Lauren Magaziner, Marti Dumas, and Alby C. Williams discuss the importance of magical stories for queer youth.
A “Glass” Act
Jeanne Walker Harvey celebrated the launch of her picture book The Glass Pyramid: A Story of the Louvre Museum and Architect I.M. Pei (Atheneum), with an event at the Skyscraper Museum in New York City on June 14. The picture book, illustrated by Khoa Le, highlights the career of renowned Chinese American architect I. M. Pei. Harvey gave a reading and led young attendees in creating paper Louvre pyramids and mini architecture sketch books. The event closed with a book signing.
