Enjoy an hour of storytelling with two visiting authors as a part of UIUC's Youth Literature Festival.
For the first hour, from 11:30 am -12:30 pm, hear stories for preschool and elementary students from Janice Harrington:
A librarian who harbored a secret desire to write, Janice N. Harrington returned to an old dream of writing poetry. Every day before work, in the early morning hours, Janice wrote poem after poem, especially about her family and memories of the South. This attention to writing and reading poetry led to her first book of poems, Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone, winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award for Poetry. Her love of writing grew into a career as a children’s writer with many picture books, including two picture book biographies and a popular verse novel.
Janice lives in Champaign, Illinois, where she regularly visits local prairies, Black history sites, and places that celebrate books. She is currently working on a new collection of poetry about how African Americans have shaped a sense of place and belonging in the Midwest.
For the second hour, from 12:30 - 1:30 pm, hear stories for middle and high school students from Justin A. Reynolds:
Justin A. Reynolds has always wanted to be a writer. Opposite of Always, his debut YA novel, was an Indies Introduce Top Ten Debut, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2019, translated in 19 languages, is being developed for film by Paramount Players, and was recently adapted into a popular Webtoon. His second YA novel, Early Departures, was published to critical acclaim and was a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2020. His Marvel graphic novel debut featuring Brooklyn’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales: Shock Waves, was an ABA Indie Bestseller. Justin is also the co-founder of the CLE Reads Book Festival, a Cleveland Book Festival for middle-grade and young adult readers and writers.
Feel free to join us for one or both of the authors' presentations!
This program is presented as a part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Youth Literature Festival. This bi-annual festival brings award-winning authors of youth literature to the Urbana-Champaign community.
AGE GROUP: | Pre-Schoolers | Middle School Students | High School Students | Families | Elementary Students |
Conveniently located at the corner of Race and Green in downtown Urbana.
