{"id":1051,"date":"2019-05-06T14:49:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T14:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2021-06-13T06:12:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T06:12:45","slug":"csk50-celebration-event-in-langston-hughes-house-with-i-too-arts-collective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/2019\/05\/06\/csk50-celebration-event-in-langston-hughes-house-with-i-too-arts-collective\/","title":{"rendered":"#CSK50 Celebration Event in Langston Hughes House with I, Too Arts Collective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Lesa Cline-Ransome, Ren\u00e9e Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia and Tiffany Jackson
Photo credit: Danielle Privat<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On April 23, in Langston Hughes\u2019s Harlem brownstone living room, four Coretta Scott King Award recipients gathered to share their stories of winning the honor and what it means to them. Mutual admiration radiated from Lesa Cline-Ransome, Tiffany Jackson, Renee Watson, and Rita Williams-Garcia, to the delight of the enthusiastic audience. Perched next to one of Hughes\u2019s typewriters, Jennifer Baker from Minorities in Publishing moderated the four writers through a discussion of their inspirations and paths to authorship. Then, on an eventful morning, their phones rang to make them award winners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tiffany Jackson, 2019 Steptoe winnter, with Bweela Steptoe Photo credit: Susan Polos<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cline-Ransome described her joy at being recognized for Finding Langston after nearly two decades of publishing books for young readers. She explained that children\u2019s literature allowed her to investigate people\u2019s lives and follow her passion for writing without talking to interview subjects, as a journalist would. As a child, Jackson, the John Steptoe New Talent Award winner for Monday\u2019s Not Coming<\/em>, sought out the CSK \u201csticker books\u201d but never imagined becoming a recipient herself. She confessed how little she knew about the award process before publishing her first YA novel; CSK regular Jason Reynolds broke it to her that she should expect to speak at the awards breakfast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renee Watson detailed the surreal experience of\nreceiving calls about Piecing Me Together <\/em>from the Newbery committee and\nthe CSK jury on the same morning, hearing from the Newbery group first. When\nthe phone rang a second time, her first thought was \u201cno take backs!\u201d but\nfortunately, the call came from the CSK committee with more wonderful news.\nRita Williams-Garcia–a four-time CSK winner for Like Sisters on the\nHomefront<\/em>, One Crazy Summer<\/em>, P.S. Be Eleven<\/em>, and Gone\nCrazy in Alabama–<\/em>reiterated the particular delight of recognition from the\nCoretta Scott King jury. \u201cThe N-bery is lovely, but winning the CSK is like\nhearing mama say she approves.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Susan Polos<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee co-sponsored the event with the I, Too Arts Collective, a non-profit organization founded by Renee Watson and dedicated to cultivating underrepresented voices in the arts. The evening brought together librarians, students, writers, family, and more to celebrate these notable women and the award\u2019s rich history. Asked about their own inspirations and influences, the authors offered support for each other. They shouted out some favorite CSK winners over the years, especially current National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature, Jacqueline Woodson, both for the lyricism of her writing and her way of being in the world. What they admire in her, they each strive to provide in their own writing: to reflect and validate the experience of other African-American readers, from D.C. to the Pacific Northwest. As the Coretta Scott King Book Award community honors the award’s impact for 50 years, these four authors demonstrate their power to inspire, commemorate, and shine a light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Celebrate 50 Years Strong: The Coretta Scott King Awards\u00a0KidLit\u00a0TV recording: <\/strong>https:\/\/youtu.be\/oChwalMPUyo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robbin Friedman<\/em><\/strong>\nis a Children\u2019s Librarian at the Chappaqua Public Library in Chappaqua, NY. She\nis a member of the CSK Community.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 23, in Langston Hughes\u2019s Harlem brownstone living room, four Coretta Scott King Award recipients gathered to share their stories of winning the honor and what it means to them. Mutual admiration radiated from Lesa Cline-Ransome, Tiffany Jackson, Renee Watson, and Rita Williams-Garcia, to the delight of the enthusiastic audience. Perched next to one … Continue reading #CSK50 Celebration Event in Langston Hughes House with I, Too Arts Collective<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-csk-50th-anniversary","category-past-events-and-important-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1306,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions\/1306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}