The inaugural Newbery Award Symposium at The Ohio State University honored the legacy of professors Charlotte Huck and Rudine Sims Bishop and celebrated author Virginia Hamilton, who attended Ohio State, for their contributions to children’s literature.
Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) recently presented the symposium at the Ohio Union. The event focused on Ohio State’s long history with African American children’s literature.
The symposium brought together five Black authors who have won the Newbery Award with elementary and middle school teachers and librarians and students from throughout central Ohio.
Ohio State Professor Jonda McNair spoke about the history of the Newbery Award.
“The Newbery is the first children’s book award created in the world, not just in the U.S. It has been around now for more than 100 years,” said Jonda McNair, EHE’s Charlotte S. Huck Professor of Children’s Literature and symposium organizer, who has also served on the Newbery Award Selection Committee. “It is widely considered the top prize in children’s literature in the U.S.”
Each year, one book wins the John Newbery Medal, and several Newbery Honors are also given, McNair said. The Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, oversees the award. All books that receive the medal or an honor are considered Newbery Award winners.
Newbery Award-winning authors Kwame Alexander, Derrick Barnes, Amina Luqman-Dawson, Jason Reynolds and Carole Boston Weatherford spoke at the event.
“I am delighted to have these winners all together to share their talents and creative processes with all of us,” McNair said.
Event honors Bishop, Huck, Hamilton
In addition to spotlighting the featured authors, the symposium honored the work of Bishop, an Ohio State professor emerita who is widely known for her work in African American children’s literature, and the late Huck, who created EHE’s graduate program in children’s literature.
“We have an excellent program in literacy and children’s literature,” McNair said. “Our students are able to take courses on topics such as fantasy, poetry, graphic novels, the history of children’s literature and the picture book as an art object.”
Ohio State’s history with children’s literature also includes the first Black author to receive the Newbery Medal: Hamilton. The late Yellow Springs native attended Ohio State in 1956, majoring in English and creative writing. She went on to pen 41 critically acclaimed books, including “M.C. Higgins, the Great,” for which she won the 1975 Newbery Medal.
Authors share writing process, inspiration for their stories
During the symposium, authors shared how their books are used in schools to teach English literature, history, science and other subjects. They also discussed their Ohio connections.
Alexander spoke about working with Akron native LeBron James’ SpringHill production company to adapt his 2015 Newbery Medal-winning novel “The Crossover” into a Disney+ television series. Alexander won a 2023 Emmy for his role as writer, executive producer and showrunner of the series.
Alexander added that one of his proudest achievements was writing his first book that centers on a female character – his latest novel for children, “Black Star,” which was released in September. He said the story was inspired by a lengthy fan letter from a girl in middle school who noted that while she enjoyed reading Alexander’s books, none of them had featured a female protagonist.
After visiting the young reader’s school and speaking with her to get more feedback, “I wrote a story about a girl who loves playing baseball,” he said. “The boys in her neighborhood do not like playing with her because she’s such a good player. She strikes them all out.”
Alexander also took writing classes with award-winning poet Nikki Giovanni, who grew up in Cincinnati, when she was a professor at Virginia Tech University. He said she gave him invaluable advice on how to improve his writing.
“She said, ‘Kwame, I can teach you how to write, but I cannot teach you how to be interesting,’” he said. “In order to be interesting, you have to be interested.”
How winning the Newbery changes careers
The authors said the Newbery Award was instrumental in shepherding their books into schools, libraries and the hands of young readers.
Reynolds won the 2018 Newbery Honor for his novel “The Long Way Down.” He was recently selected for a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship – known as the “genius grant.”
Reynolds said educators and librarians who serve on the Newbery Award Selection Committee help bring awareness to books that can instill a love of reading and lifelong learning in young people.
“The Newbery is the award that is given to what is supposed to be, arguably, the best book of that particular year. And what it does is it puts that book at the forefront and in front of every library, every bookstore,” he said. “There are a lot of people … who are working on the back side, really pushing for this work to move forward.”
Luqman-Dawson said winning the 2023 Newbery Medal for her debut novel, “Freewater,” has enabled her to get her message to students across the country about the importance of learning history.
“It’s allowed me to be able to get in front of all sorts of kids and say things that people listen to, which I think is amazing,” she said. “It’s just allowed me to talk to so many more people, and that’s been a gift.”