Page 4 - Raleigh Reading Summit Event Guide

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
LEStER L. LamINaCk is professor emeritus at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where he received two
awards for excellence in teaching. He is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States. Lester is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English and served
as co-editor of Primary Voices and the children’s book
review column of Language Arts. He also served
as a teaching editor for the magazine Teaching K-8
and wrote the Parent Connection column. He is a former member of the Whole Language Umbrella Governing Board, the governing board and secretary of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, and the board of directors for the Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking. Lester served as the basic reading consultant to Literacy Volunteers of America from
1987 through 2001 and as a member of the board of directors of Our Children’s Place [ourchildrensplace. com]. He is the current column editor for The Writing Department of the ILA journal, The Reading Teacher.
His academic publications include several books: Learning with Zachary (Scholastic), Spelling in Use (NCTE), Volunteers Working with Young Readers (NCTE), and his contributions to The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (NCTE), Learning Under the In uence of Language and Literature (Heinemann), Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum (Heinemann), The Writing Teacher’s Troubleshooting Guide (Heinemann), Writers ARE Readers (Heinemann), Bullying Hurts (Heinemann), Cracking Open the Author’s Craft (Scholastic), and Unwrapping the Read Aloud (Scholastic). His newest work with Scholastic is The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource: Making Every Moment Intentional and Instructional With Best Friend Books (2016) and Best Friend Fiction Kits for Grades K-5 (2016). In addition, he has several articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher, Early Years, Language Arts, Teaching pre-K/8, and Young Children. Lester is also the author of six children’s books: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor’s Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, Jake’s 100th Day of School, Snow Day!, Three Hens and a Peacock, and a forthcoming title, The King of Bees (all from Peachtree Publishers).
Lester earned a B.S. and M.S. in Elementary Education from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and an Ed.D. in Elementary Education and Reading from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.
Click here to learn more about Lester Laminack and to purchase his books.
JEwELL PaRkER RHoDES is the award-winning author of Ninth Ward, Bayou Magic, and Sugar. Her writing guides include: Free
Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and
The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Non ction. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jewell now lives in California. She is the Virginia G. Piper Chair in Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
Her most recent novel for young readers is Towers Falling, a story about 9/11 set 15 years later. Jewell wrote this
story realizing that so many born after 2001 could not put the tragedy into context. Her work has been published in Germany, Italy, Canada, Turkey, and the United Kingdom and reproduced in audio and for NPR’s “Selected Shorts.”
Her honors include: the American Book Award, the National Endowment of the Arts Award in Fiction, the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Outstanding Writing, and two Arizona Book Awards.