Children's Literature Lecture Award Recipients
Beginning with the 2021 Lecture, the award name changed from the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award to the Children's Literature Lecture Award.
2023: Bryan Collier. "Dreamwalker"
Watch Collier's lecture
Hosted by Dayton Metro Library and the University of Dayton
2022: No lecturer selected due to delays in lectures caused by COVID-19
2021: Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop
Watch the celebration of Dr. Sims Bishop's work
Hosted virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic
2020: Neil Gaiman
Hosted by Sacramento (Calif.) Public Library
2019: Dr. Debbie Reese. "An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children's Literature"
Watch Dr. Reese's Lecture
Hosted by University of Wisconsin -- Madison
Hosted by Western Washington University and the Whatcom County Library System, Bellingham, Washington
Watch Woodson's lecture
Hosted by South Carolina State Library and the city of Columbia, South Carolina
Watch Mora's lecture
Watch Selznick's lecture
Hosted by DC Public Library, Washington DC
Watch Pinkney's lecture -View the Online Exhibit
Hosted by the Children's Literature Research Collection (CLRC), University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, Minn.
Watch the lecture by entering "Morpurgo" into the search box on this Nazareth College webpage!
Hosted by Nazareth College and the Youth Services Section of the New York Library Association, Rochester, N.Y.
Watch Lowry's lecture.
Hosted by St. Louis (Mo.) County Library
2010: Kathleen T. Horning. "Can Children's Books Save the World? Advocates for Diversity in Children's Books and Libraries."
Hosted by Riverside County (Calif.) Library System
2009: Walter Dean Myers. "The Geography of the Heart."
Hosted by the Langston Hughes Library at the Children's Defense Fund Alex Haley Farm, Clinton, Tennessee
2008: David Macaulay. "Thirteen Studios."
Watch Macaulay's lecture.
Hosted by South Central Library System, Madison, Wisconsin
2007: Kevin Henkes. "Books As Shelter: Going Home Again and Again."
Hosted by the McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature, University of Kentucky SLIS
2006: Russell Freedman. "The Past Isn’t Past: How History Speaks, and What It Says to the Next Generation."
Hosted by the Williamsburg Regional Library with the support of The Library of Virginia and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
2005: Richard Jackson. "Mutuality."
Co-hosted by the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School.
2004: Ursula K. Le Guin. "Cheek by Jowl: Animals in Children's Literature."
Hosted by Maricopa County Library District, Arizona State University (ASU), and the Arizona Center for the Book
2003: Maurice Sendak. "Descent into Limbo."
Hosted by Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library and Children's Literature New England, Inc.
2002: Philip Pullman, "So She Went Into the Garden"
Le Frak Hall, Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Flushing, NY.
2001: Susan Cooper, "Time and Again"
Scottish Rite Center, Portland, Ore., hosted by Multnomah County Library.
2000: Hazel Rochman, "A Stranger Comes to Town."
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
1999: Lillian N. Gerhardt, "Editorial License: On Library Selection Connections."
San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science, San Jose, CA.
1998: Susan Hirschman, "Instead of a Lecture."
Richland County Public Library and the College of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
1997: Katherine Paterson, "In Search of Wonder."
Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD.
1996: Zena Sutherland, "A Life in Review."
Dallas Public Library, Dallas, TX
1995: Leonard Everett Fisher, "Imaginings and Images."
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
1994: Margaret K. McElderry, "Across the Years, Across the Seas: Notes from an Errant Editor."
Coronado Public Library, CA
1993: Virginia Hamilton, "Everything of Value: Moral Realism in the Literature for Children."
Virginia Center for the Book, Richmond, VA
1992: Charlotte S. Huck, "Developing Lifetime Readers."
Montana Library Association annual conference, Bozeman, MT
1991: Iona Opie, "The Nature and Function of Children's Lore."
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
1990: Ashley Bryan, "A Tender Bridge."
Hosted By: New Orleans Public Library
1989: Margaret Mahy, "A Dissolving Ghost: Possible Operations of Truth in Children's Books and the Lives of Children."
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
1988: John Bierhorst, "Pushing up the Sun a Little."
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
1987: James Houston, "A Primitive View of the World."
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
1986: Aidan Chambers, "All of a Tremble to See His Danger."
University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR
1985: Patricia Wrightson, "Stones into Pools. "
Indiana University, hosted by the Stone Hills Area Library Services Authority, Bloomington, IN
1984: Fritz Eichenberg, "Bell, Book and Candle."
Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center, Minneapolis, MN
1983: Leland B. Jacobs, "Children and the Voices of Literature."
Center for the Study of Literature for Young People at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA
1982: Dorothy Butler, "From Books to Buttons: Reflections From the Thirties to the Eighties."
Florida State University, Orlando, FL
1981: Virginia Betancourt, "Information: A Necessity for Survival: Strategies for the Promotion of Children's Books in a Developing Country."
Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
1980: Horst Kunze, "German Children's Literature From Its Beginning to the Nineteenth Century: A Historical Perspective."
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
1979: Sheila Egoff, "Beyond the Garden Wall: Some Observations on Current Trends in Children's Literature."
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
1978: Uriel Ofek, "Tom and Laura from Right to Left: American Children's Books Experienced by Young Hebrew Readers."
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
1977: Shigeo Watanabe, "One of the Dozens."
Boise State University, Boise, ID
1976: Jean Fritz, "The Education of an American."
Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA
1975: Mollie Hunter, "Talent Is Not Enough."
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
1974 : Ivan Southall, "Real Adventure Belongs To Us."
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1973: Bettina Hürlimann, "Fortunate Moments in Children's Books."
University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO
1972: Mary Ørvig, "One World in Children's Books"
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1971: John Rowe Townsend, "Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature."
Atlanta Memorial Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
1970: Margery Fisher, "Rights and Wrongs."
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.