Western Washington University and the Whatcom County Library System chosen as site for 2018 Arbuthnot Lecture

For Immediate Release
Mon, 07/10/2017

Contact:

Courtney Jones

Awards Coordinator

ALSC

American Library Association

312-280-2163

alscawards@ala.org

CHICAGO — The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) announced that the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Committee has selected the Western Washington University and Whatcom County Library System to serve as the host site for the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture featuring Naomi Shihab Nye. The lecture will be held in the spring of 2018.

Sylvia Tag, Curator of The Children's Literature Interdisciplinary Collection, noted that, “Naomi Shihab Nye spreads hope and light through her poetry and prose. Western Washington University and the Whatcom County Library System are honored to host the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, and invite her particular brilliance to illuminate our diverse and word-hungry communities.”  

The 2018 Arbuthnot Committee selected Naomi Shihab Nye as the lecturer and celebrates her wise and lyrical observations. As a poet, Nye consistently draws on her heritage and writing to attest to our shared humanity.  The daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother, Naomi Shihab Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas. The author and/or editor of more than 30 books for adults and children, her latest for young people, “The Turtle of Oman,” was chosen as a 2015 Notable Children's Book by the ALA. She has received four Pushcart Prizes, was a National Book Award finalist, and has been named a Guggenheim Fellow, amongst her many honors.

The May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture celebrates May Hill Arbuthnot, who served as a strong voice for children’s literature. Each year a lecturer is chosen who will prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children’s literature. This paper is delivered as a lecture each spring, and is subsequently published through Children & Libraries, the journal of ALSC. ALSC established the lecture series in 1969 with sponsorship from Scott, Foresman and Company. The lectureship is now funded by the ALSC May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Endowment, and administered by ALSC.

ALSC, a division of the ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC visit www.ala.org/alsc.

Members of the 2018 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Committee are: Chair Elizabeth Ramsey Bird, Evanston Public Library (Ill.); Timothy D. Capehart, Beavercreek (Ohio) Community Library; Monica Edinger, The Dalton School, New York; Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library, Washington, D.C.; and Sharon McKellar, Oakland (Calif.) Public Library.