ALSC seeks host site for 2008 Arbuthnot Lecture featuring David Macaulay

Contact: Laura Schulte-Cooper

ALSC

312-280-2165

For Immediate Release

March 13, 2007

ALSC seeks host site for 2008 Arbuthnot Lecture featuring David Macaulay

CHICAGO - The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is pleased to announce that applications now are available to institutions interested in hosting the 2008 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture to be delivered by David Macaulay, Caldecott Medalist and renowned author/illustrator. 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.

Host site application forms can be downloaded at www.ala.org/alsc; click on the link under “Breaking News.” Completed applications are due May 1, 2007. Information about host site responsibilities is included in the application materials. The lecture traditionally is held in April or early May.

“The Arbuthnot Lecture provides a wonderful opportunity for a community to host a prestigious individual in the field of children’s literature,” said Deborah Stevenson, chair of the Arbuthnot Selection Committee. “We anticipate a thought-provoking lecture by David Macaulay, and the selection committee looks forward to reviewing host applications to find just the right venue for this distinctive occasion.”

Born in 1946 in Burton-on-Trent, England, Macaulay moved at age 11 to Bloomfield, N.J. He received his Bachelor of Arts in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. Macaulay first came to fame in children’s literature with his now-legendary “Cathedral” (1973). He followed that title with several more absorbing narratives about the building of large structures such as “City” (1974), “Castle” (1977) and “Mosque” (2003), as well as the operation of everyday science and engineering principles in “The Way Things Work” (1988). Macaulay won the Caldecott Medal for “Black and White” (1990). He currently lives with his family in rural Vermont.

ALSC is a division of the American Library Association.