April 23, 2024
Award-winning children's author and illustrator Jessica Love to speak on Saturday, April 27
Award-winning author Jessica Love will be the keynote speaker for the ninth biennial interdisciplinary conference on children's literature in English, education and library science, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in the K-State Student Union Wildcat Chamber with concurrent streaming on Zoom.
Love is best known as the author of "Julián is a Mermaid," winner of a Stonewall Book Award, a New York Times Notable Children's Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor, and the Opera Prima from the Bologna Children's Book Fair, among many other honors.
Love is also the author and illustrator of a sequel, "Julián at the Wedding," and the illustrator of "I Love You Because I Love You" by Mượn Thị Văn.
Love studied printmaking and illustration at the University of California, Santa Cruz and then drama at Juilliard. After working as an actor in New York for 10 years, she created "Julián is a Mermaid," her debut book.
Love currently resides in the Hudson Valley of New York.
This year's conference theme, "Between Generations in Children's and Young Adult Literature," is inspired by Love's work. At the conference, Love will appear by live-stream to share her keynote presentation on the conference theme and speak about her craft.
"At a time when communities are challenging inclusion of diverse representations of children and young adults in literature and history, Jessica Love's award-winning work reminds us about the importance of representation — how it provides, in the words of scholar and educator Rudine Sims Bishop, mirrors to see ourselves as well as windows on others' experiences. We're looking forward to hosting Love as our keynote speaker and to learn from her talk," said Karin Westman, department head of English and faculty advisor for the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community, a department-sponsored student organization in English.
Delaney Sullivan, second-year graduate student in English and co-president of the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community, agrees.
"Our keynote speaker for this year's ChALC conference is the incomparable picture book author and illustrator Jessica Love. I've read her book 'Julián is a Mermaid' in class, and it will be exciting to see what she has to say in the context of intergenerational children's text," said Sullivan
In addition to Love's keynote lecture, the conference features a presentation by Vicki Sherbert, associate professor and assistant director of curriculum and instruction, College of Education, on "Connections Across the Ages: Intergenerational Themes in Children's and Young Adult Literature."
Five graduate students in English — Molly Andrade, MA '25; Sierra Knipe, MA '25; Ian Lutz, MA '24; Jon Olsen, MA '24; and Maggie Steuer, MA '24 — will also present lightning talks on the conference theme.
"Stories that are passed down through generations are special," explained Elizabeth Elliott, first-year graduate student in English and co-president of the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community. "They are stories that connect us to who we are and who we are becoming, and so the focus of this year's ChALC conference encourages all of us to remember the stories we loved being told growing up."
The conference is free and open to students, faculty, staff and community members, but advance registration is required. To register to attend on campus or online, visit tinyurl.com/kstatechalc2024 by 5 p.m. CDT Friday, April 26.
Conference attendance fulfills requirements for "Service to the Profession: Professional Growth" for undergraduate students in Education.
The conference is sponsored by the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community and the department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, with support from SGA Fine Arts fees and the Dow Center for Multicultural and Community Studies at K-State Libraries