Illustrators and literary minds came together in Hattiesburg for the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival on April 10 through April 12. Both emerging and established talents within the community of children’s literature listened as their contemporaries spoke about the craft and as the university gave awards to special guests.
Of note, on Thursday, April 11, USM President Joe Paul handed New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith the Southern Miss Medallion, a prestigious honor that has been given out annually since 1969. The Southern Miss Medallion has previously been bestowed upon literary giants such as Lois Lowery, Judy Blume and Ezra Jack Keats, and is given to recipients for “distinguished service in the field of children’s literature” according to the festival’s website. Upon winning the award, Smith stated it was “a lovely celebration of what children’s literature can do in our world,” adding that for her to win the award “is tremendously affirming.”
“It’s a great honor. It is an encouragement. It says to me that I should keep writing, I should keep telling stories, that I should keep lifting up young readers,” said Smith.
Smith, who is a part of the Muscogee Creek Nation, uses her platform to further fellow Native American writers’ and readers’ aspirations. In addition to exploring themes of Native American culture in her literature, such as the titles Tantalize, Rain Is Not My Indian Name and Indian Shoes, Smith also founded a literary imprint to help indigenous writers get published. The imprint, named Heartdrum, is under the publisher HarpersCollins and seeks to “emphasize the present and future of Indian Country and the strength of young Indigenous heroes,” according to its website. Smith stated that it is important “to send a message through the conversation of books that every child belongs in the storytelling circle, that every child can be a hero that all of us cherish.”
Smith, however, was not the only creative mind recognized at the festival last week. The Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner for a Writer was awarded to Anne Wynter. The same award in the illustrator category went to Sarah Gonzalez. Ezra Jack Keats Award Honors went to Kim Rogers, Helena Ku Rhee, Fran Alvarez, Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez. Finalists for the same award were Sandhya Parappukkaran & Michelle Pereira, Jack Wong, Adriana M. Garcia, and Juan Camilo Mayorga.
The festival also included keynote presentations from Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, as well as “concurrent sessions” about various topics. Some of the various concurrent session topics included discussions of “creating community in a high school library”, “providing reading equity through technology,” and “great science fiction books for children and young adults.”
“[The mission] is to recognize excellence in the field of children’s literature and to provide librarians, teachers, researchers, and community members the opportunity to learn about and appreciate children’s literature through presentations, workshops, and personal interactions with people of significance in the field.”
