HomeKevin Henkes to deliver 2007 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

Contacts: Larra Clark/Macey Morales

                         ALA Media Relations

                         312-280-5043/4393

For Immediate Release
January 23, 2006

Kevin Henkes to deliver 2007 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

(SAN ANTONIO) Kevin Henkes, Caldecott Award medalist and renowned author of picture books and novels for children, will deliver the 2007 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.  Each year, an individual of distinction in the field of children’s literature is chosen to write and deliver a lecture that will make a significant contribution to the world of children’s literature. The award is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The announcement was made January 23 during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, January 20 to 25.      

Henkes began his career in children’s literature in 1981 at the age of 19 with the publication of “All Alone,” his first picture book.   He has published seven novels and more than 20 picture books, as well as a number of board books for young children.  He was awarded the 2005 Caldecott Medal for “Kitten’s First Full Moon” and received a Newbery Honor for the novel “Olive’s Ocean” in 2004 and a Caldecott Honor for “Owen” in 1994.

Henkes is one of the very few people in the field who has successfully written and illustrated books that appeal to readers ranging from preschool to middle school.   He has been a scholar of literary and illustrative style, and a true innovator in his use of words, paint and ink.   His characters are some of the most memorable in literature for children.

Henkes was born in 1960 in Racine, Wisc., and studied as an art major at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.  He currently lives in Madison, Wisc., with his wife and two children, where he continues to create books for children.

Members of the Arbuthnot Committee are: Chair, William Teale, University of Illinois at Chicago; Sharon Grover, Arlington Public Library, Arlington, Va.; Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, Calif.; Anitra Steele, Mid-Continent Public Library, Independence, Mo.; and Kathryn Whitacre, The Free Library of Philadelphia, Penn. 

More information on the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture can be found online at http://www.ala.org/alsc/arbuth.html. Applications to host the 2007 lecture will be available from ALSC, alsc@ala.org.