| Children's Literature Lecture Award | |
| Awarded For: | body of work in the field of children's literature |
| Presenter: | Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 1970 |
| Website: | http://www.ala.org/alsc/arbuthnot |
The Children's Literature Lecture Award (known as the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture from 1970-2020), is an annual event sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association. The organization counts selection as the lecturer among its "Book & Media Awards", for selection recognizes a career contribution to children's literature. At the same time, the lecturer "shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children's literature", to be delivered as the Children's Literature Lecture and to be published in the ALSC journal Children & Libraries.
The lecture was funded in 1969 to honor the educator May Hill Arbuthnot and first held in 1970. Arbuthnot was one creator of "Dick and Jane" readers and she wrote the first three editions of Children and Books (Scott, Foresman 1947, 1957, 1964). When informed of the new honorary lecture in her name, 'she recalled "that long stretch of years when I was dashing from one end of the country to the other, bringing children and books together by way of the spoken word."' It was renamed the "Children's Literature Lecture Award" in January 2020.[1]
The lecturer may be an "author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country". The Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee selects one from a list of nominations, a process currently completed in January 15 to 18 months before the event. Then institutions apply to be the host: any "library school, department of education in college or university, or a children's library system". Several months later the same committee selects the host institution from the applicants.
| Lecturer | Title | Host | City, State < | --Template: --> | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Rita Williams-Garcia | “A Funny Thing About Memory” | Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | |
| 2023 | "Dreamwalker"[2] | ||||
| 2022 | No lecturer selected due to delays in lectures caused by COVID-19[3] | ||||
| 2021 | Due to "unforeseen circumstances," no lecture was given. Instead, a "virtual celebration of Dr. Bishop’s work and her impact on the field of children’s literature" was hosted by ALSC.[4] | Hosted virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic | |||
| 2020 | |||||
| 2019 | |||||
| 2018 | "REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED - Our Lives of Reading & Writing" | ||||
| 2017 | "What Gets Left Behind: Stories From The Great Migration" | ||||
| 2016 | "Bookjoy! ¡Alegría en los libros | " | |||
| 2015 | "Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on Queerness and Family in Children's Books" | ||||
| 2014 | "Rejoice the Legacy" (YouTube recording. Pinkney appears 12:15 minutes in.) | ||||
| 2013 | "War Boy to War Horse" https://cloud.ensemblevideo.com/app/sites/index.aspx?destinationID=ySvquw-zt06uv7_nCRTNEQ&searchString=morpurgo&pageIndex=1&pageSize=10 | ||||
| 2012 | "Reading in the Dark" (MUOhio recording) | ||||
| 2011 | "Unleaving: The Staying Power of Gold" http://loislowry.com/documents/speeches/arbuthnot.pdf (brief YouTube recording) | St. Louis County Library | |||
| 2010 | "Can Children's Books Save the World? Advocates for Diversity in Children's Books and Libraries" | Riverside County Library System | |||
| 2009 | Langston Hughes Library at the Children's Defense Fund Alex Haley Farm | ||||
| 2008 | "Thirteen Studios" (YouTube recording) | South Central Library System | |||
| 2007 | "Books As Shelter: Going Home Again and Again" | McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature, University of Kentucky SLIS | |||
| 2006 | Williamsburg Regional Library The Library of Virginia Virginia Foundation for the Humanities | ||||
| 2005 | "Mutuality" | Free Library of Philadelphia Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School | |||
| 2004 | "Cheek by Jowl: Animals in Children's Literature" | Maricopa County Library District Arizona State University Arizona Center for the Book | |||
| 2003 | "Descent into Limbo" | Cambridge Public Library Children's Literature, Inc. | |||
| 2002 | "So She Went Into the Garden" | Le Frak Hall, Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies | |||
| 2001 | "Time and Again" | Scottish Rite Center Multnomah County Library | |||
| 2000 | Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut | ||||
| 1999 | "Editorial License: On Library Selection Connections" | San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science | |||
| 1998 | "Instead of a Lecture" | Richland County Public Library College of Library and Information Science at the university of South Carolina | |||
| 1997 | "In Search of Wonder" | Northern State University | |||
| 1996 | Dallas Public Library | ||||
| 1995 | "Imaginings and Images" | University of Wisconsin | |||
| 1994 | "Across the Years, Across the Seas: Notes from an Errant Editor" | Coronado Public Library | |||
| 1993 | "Everything of Value: Moral Realism in the Literature for Children" | Virginia Center for the Book | |||
| 1992 | "Developing Lifetime Readers" | Montana Library Association annual conference | |||
| 1991 | Library of Congress | ||||
| 1990 | New Orleans Public Library | ||||
| 1989 | University of Pittsburgh | ||||
| 1988 | "Pushing up the Sun a Little" | University of Oklahoma | |||
| 1987 | Northern Illinois University | ||||
| 1986 | "All of a Tremble to See His Danger" | University of Arkansas | |||
| 1985 | "Stones into Pools" | Indiana University Stone Hills Area Library Services Authority | |||
| 1984 | "Bell, Book and Candle" | Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center | |||
| 1983 | "Children and the Voices of Literature" | Center for the Study of Literature for Young People at the University of Georgia | |||
| 1982 | "From Books to Buttons: Reflections From the Thirties to the Eighties" | Florida State University | |||
| 1981 | "Information: A Necessity for Survival: Strategies for the Promotion of Children's Books in a Developing Country" | Texas Woman's University | |||
| 1980 | "German Children's Literature From Its Beginning to the Nineteenth Century: A Historical Perspective" | University of Wisconsin | |||
| 1979 | "Beyond the Garden Wall: Some Observations on Current Trends in Children's Literature" | University of South Carolina | |||
| 1978 | "Tom and Laura from Right to Left: American Children's Books Experienced by Young Hebrew Readers" | Boston Public Library | |||
| 1977 | "One of the Dozens" | Boise State University | |||
| 1976 | Los Angeles Public Library | ||||
| 1975 | "Talent Is Not Enough" | Drexel University | |||
| 1974 | "Real Adventure Belongs To Us" | University of Washington | |||
| 1973 | "Fortunate Moments in Children's Books" | University of Missouri | |||
| 1972 | "One World in Children's Books" | University of Chicago | |||
| 1971 | "Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature" | Atlanta Memorial Arts Center | |||
| 1970 | "Rights and Wrongs" | Case Western Reserve University |
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee has hosted two lectures.
Two lecture titles allude to The Secret Garden, a 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.