Naomi Shihab Nye to deliver 2018 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

ATLANTA – Writer and Poet Naomi Shihab Nye will deliver the 2018 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. The announcement was made today by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits held Jan. 20– 24, in Atlanta, Georgia.

“A wise and lyrical observer, Naomi Shihab Nye consistently draws on her heritage and writing to attest to our shared humanity,” stated 2018 Arbuthnot Committee Chair Elizabeth Ramsey Bird.

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 lecturer, announced annually during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits, may be an author, illustrator, editor, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, of any country, who shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children’s literature.  This paper is delivered as a lecture each April or May, and is subsequently published in “Children and Libraries,” the journal of ALSC.  Once the name is made public, institutions wishing to host the lecture may apply.  A library school, department of education in a college or university, or a public library system may be considered.  Applications to host the 2018 lecture will be available online from ALSC at www.ala.org/alsc this spring.

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.

ALSC 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 their website at http://www.ala.org/alsc.

For more information on the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.