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2015 Charlotte Zolotow Lecture - Yuyi Morales - 10/20/2015 - 7:30pm

2015 Charlotte Zolotow Lecture

Marquee Theater

Established in 1998, the lecture was named to honor Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 65 picture books, including such classic works as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (Harper, 1962) and William's Doll (Harper, 1972). Ms. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933-36 where she studied with Professor Helen C. White. The Cooperative Children's Book Center, a library of the School of Education of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, administers the event which each year brings a distinguished children's book author or illustrator to the campus to deliver a free public lecture.
 
The 2015 Charlotte Zolotow Lecture will be delivered by Yuyi Morales. Yuyi is the 2004 winner of the Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration for her book Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book as well as the 2008 winner for Los Gatos Black on Halloween. She is also the creator of ALA notable book, Little Night, co-released in Spanish as Nochecita, and winner of the 2008 SCBWI Golden Kite Medal. Some of other recognitions her work has received include the Americas Award, the California book Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award won in 2004 and 2008. She will be discussing her body of work as an illustrator of children's books whose work portrays and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.

Yuyi Morales

Yuyi Morales

Since migrating to the US from Mexico in 1994, Yuyi Morales has created some of our most celebrated children’s books. She is a multiple winner of the Pura Belpré Medal, an honor bestowed by the American Library Association for Authors and Illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children. Other honors include the Americas Award, the Golden Kite Medal, the Christopher Award, the Jane Adams Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award.
 
As a Spanish-speaking immigrant and new mother, Yuyi struggled with English and with loneliness in a culture foreign to her. She took solace in public libraries, where she and her son practiced English by reading children’s books. In her library visits she found a renewed interest for stories, and Yuyi enrolled in evening writing classes to learn how to tell stories in English like the ones she now so much admired. She also bought her first set of paints and brushes, and studying the picture books she loved she began to paint.
 
Today, Yuyi’s little son has grown up and enrolled as an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College. She and her husband have returned to Mexico, where she continues creating beloved books for children.