Page 4 - Chicago Reading Summit Event Guide

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
KwAmE ALExANDER is a poet, educator, and New York Times best-selling author of 21 books, including Booked and The Crossover,
which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature
for Children, the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, The NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and the Paterson Poetry Prize. Kwame writes for children of all ages. His other works include Surf ’s Up,
a picture book, Crush: Love Poems for Teenagers, and He Said She Said, a young adult novel.
Alexander believes that poetry can change the world, and he uses it to inspire and empower young people through Kwame Alexander’s Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop, published by Scholastic (2015).
Recently, he served as the Children’s Literature’s Inaugural Dorothy Carter Writer-in-Residence at The Bank Street College of Education Center.
A regular speaker at schools and conferences, he travels the world planting seeds of literary love. Each year, Alexander leads a delegation of writers, educators, and activists to Ghana as part of LEAP for Ghana, an International literacy program he co-founded that builds libraries and provides literacy professional development for teachers.
Click here to learn more about Kwame Alexander and to purchase his books.
KAtE DICAmILLo is the author of many beloved books for young readers, including Flora & Ulysses and The Tale of Despereaux, each
of which received a Newbery Medal; Because of Winn-Dixie, which received a Newbery Honor; The Tiger Rising, a National Book Award Finalist; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; The Magician’s Elephant; Raymie Nightingale; and the best-selling Mercy Watson series. Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, ve days a week.
Check out Kate on facebook.com/KateDiCamillo.