This past weekend, the 54th annual Coretta Scott King Book Awards were celebrated at a breakfast held during the American Library Association's Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. Dr. Brenda Pruitt-Annisette, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table chair, presided, and local singer/songwriter Lendell Jones II led the audience in an energetic rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a CSK tradition.
Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, ALA president, said that all were gathered to honor both the creators of the books, and "the community that fought for these books to not only be read but enjoyed by children and adults alike." Pelayo-Lozada told the crowd of authors, illustrators, librarians, and book creators that "we have the ability to share everyone's story with each other and the world. Our voices have impact, so let's continue to use them as one strong, collective voice."
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| Tommie Smith (l.) and Derrick Barnes | |
In their acceptance speeches, award winners and honorees expressed gratitude and gave the audience a view into their artistic processes. CSK Illustrator Honorees Johnnie Christmas (Swim Team) and Dawud Anyabwile (Victory. Stand!) both discussed near catastrophes hidden within their stories. For Christmas, "This book was born out of a near tragedy. I almost drowned when I was 5 years old." Victory. Stand! is a nonfiction young adult graphic novel about the life of Tommie Smith, the Olympic Gold Medalist known for winning the 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Summer Olympics and, by raising his fist in the Black Power salute (along with fellow athlete, John Carlos), became an "international icon." Anyabwile did research for the book by meeting with Smith, "the legend" himself. One of the reasons the CSK honor "is very important to me," Anyabwile said, choking up, is "I almost wasn't here today. When I was working on the book, I almost got shot." Three stray bullets "came in above my head when I was on page 22.... I didn't think I would finish the book."
Smith, who received an Author Honor along with Derrick Barnes, was a standout speaker, charming the audience while praising Barnes and Anyabwile: "The illustrator? This boy here is good. The writer? He wrote better than I lived." Barnes followed Smith by speaking of the power of those raised fists: "He stood up there that day and raised his fist for all of us." Reading directly from the book, Barnes used Smith's words to tell the audience what it was like to stand exposed in the face of death threats. "80 seconds," Barnes read, "that's how long we stood there as the anthem played, those fists in the air were dedicated to everyone back home.... We had to be seen because we were not being heard."
Also of note was Alicia D. Williams, Author Honor for The Talk, who garnered raucous applause by impressively delivering Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech, "Ain't I a Woman." Frank Morrison, Illustrator Winner for Standing in the Need of Prayer, Amina Luqman-Dawson, Author Winner for Freewater, and Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement recipient, closed the morning's festivities with discussions of unity in the United States, the joy that can be present amidst sorrow, and doing the work of getting books into young hands. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness