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PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship ($5,000)
To assist a writer of children’s or young adult literature at a crucial
moment in his or her career when monetary support is particularly
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Translation Fund Grants ($2,000–$3,000)
To support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative
nonfiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in
English or have appeared only in an egregiously flawed
translation. |
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>> PEN Members: Sign up for the Children's/Young Adult Writers Committee mailing list |
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| Home > Children's/Young Adult |
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CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT BOOK AUTHORS COMMITTEE
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The Children's/Young Adult Book Authors Committee supports writers and
librarians whose books have been banned or challenged. We are eager to
receive information about these actions so that we can respond to them
promptly.
>> Report a banned or challenged book
Our committee also has monthly meetings which include passionate
give-and-take conversations about topics that affect writers of
children's literature. Recently, a discussion about what constitutes
"truth" in picture books, fiction, nonfiction, and memoir has led to a
plan for a mini panel in early spring. Truth, often in the eye of the
beholder, takes many forms. We will explore the notion of "truth" as
writers for young people.
We welcome all to our monthly
meetings.
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COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
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 November 2007/Children's Book Committee Minutes
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October 2007/Children's Book Committee Minutes
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January 2007 Children's/Young Adult Authors Meeting Minutes
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November 2006 Children's/Young Adult Authors Meeting Minutes
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Dreadful Lies/Peculiar Truths
  Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Susan Kuklin, Robert Lipsyte, and Vera B. Williams discuss the moral responsibility to tell the truth; resources
vs. didacticism; respecting your readers; bodies, nakedness, and
full-frontal pictures; uttering society’s “no no nos”; postmodern
truth-telling; and daring to disturb the universe. >> Listen
 Leaving Home as a Rite of Passage
Neil Gaiman, Isabel Hoving, Janne Teller, Markus Zusak, and Robert
Lipsyte discuss the ideologylessness of children; refusing to be at
home; leaving the
home and leaving the graveyard; grown-ups who are afraid of children's
literature; the safety in stories. >> Listen
 Youth on the Frontlines: A Program for High School Students
With Ishmael Beah, Uzodinma Iweala, Linda Sue Park, and Donna Barkman
discuss writing what you know; remembering the lives of others; hip-hop; and readings from Linda Sue Park's When My Name Was Keoko and Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. >>Listen
 4/27/06: Tell That Story Again: Writing Myth Now
Working with myth—seeking new meaning in mankind’s oldest stories—is
one of the greatest literary challenges. Writers who have rewritten
myths for modern audiences discuss the complexities of making them new.
With David Grossman, Milton Hatoum, Anne Provoost, Jeanette Winterson; moderated by Colum McCann. >> Listen
9/25/05: Free Speech Zone
Award-winning children's and young adult writers read from banned and
challenged books to sound the alarm about a recent surge in attacks on
books in schools and public libraries, where librarians have had to
fight to keep the likes of Harry Potter, The Color Purple, Native Son, and Heather Has Two Mommies
on the shelves and available to young readers. With Judy Blume, Deborah
Hautzig, Robert Lipsyte, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,
Peter Sís, and Rita Williams-Garcia. >> More
4/17/05: Crossing Borders: Universal Themes in Children's Literature
All books reflect the impact of their authors' emotional and cultural
worlds, but which themes and stories are universal in children’s books?
Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Cornelia Funke read from their work and
exchange views on what makes certain narratives universal, while
remaining true to its own unique reality. >> Listen
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Online Forum: Capturing Race
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PEN's Children's/Young Adult Book Authors Committee weighs in on the many forms of racism—be it overt or subtle, deliberate or accidental. Please join the discussion by reading the following essay and posting your comments.
Writing Milette
by Fatima Shaik
Bright Eyes, Brown Skin: Talking Openly to Children About Racial Differences
by Cheryl Willis Hudson
>> Post a comment |
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PEN New England Children’s Book Discovery Evening
The Ninth Annual Susan P. Bloom PEN New England Children’s Book
Discovery Evening, held May 6th at Simmons College, was a great
success. The Children’s Book Discovery Evening recognizes new talent
and gives authors and illustrators of children’s literature of New
England the opportunity to share their work with the writing and
publishing community. >> More |
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St. Joseph's Library Relocation
Through the initiative of member Fatima Shaik, the Children's/Young
Adult Book Authors Committee helped move an elementary school library
from St. Joseph's School in Greenwich Village, New York City, to the
Martin Luther King Jr. School in New Orleans. When Fatima realized the
archdiocese was closing her child's school, she offered to pack up and
transport to New Orleans the entire St. Joseph's library consisting of
134 boxes of books and 37 bookcases. Over the course of several very
hot August days, members of the Children's Book Committee, including
Fran Manushkin, Susan Kuklin, Miriam Chaikin, Paul Zelinsky, Elizabeth
Levy, and Vera B. Williams, joined Shaik's friends and family, and the
staff of St. Joseph's to box the books and load them onto a rented
truck. Donations to pay for transportation-a total of $3000-came from
Children's Committee members, family, friends, and strangers who
answered a letter from "cousin Fatima" appealing for $10 from 300
people. Some $10 checks came from New Orleanians who were living in
small towns and trailers because they had lost their homes.
When the books arrived in New Orleans, volunteers from the genealogy
organization La Creole helped unpack them, as did the teachers at
Martin Luther King Jr. School, and young people from a local grassroots
organization. The Martin Luther King Jr. School for Science and
Technology, located in the lower Ninth Ward, was the only one in
Louisiana that contained a branch of the public library. This proud
centerpiece of the school was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The
Children’s Committee plans an ongoing relationship with the school that
will include visits by our author members.
Helpers at St. Josephs
Unloading the boxes in New Orleans
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