The American Booksellers Association’s ABC Children’s Group and the Children’s Book Council are partnering once again to host the annual Silent Art Auction. The event, which will be held on May 30 as part of BookExpo in New York City, will benefit two literacy charities: American Booksellers for Free Expression and Every Child a Reader. Susannah Richards, professor and children’s literature advocate, will organize the auction, and acclaimed illustrator Ashley Bryan will attend as the guest of honor.
Bryan won a 2017 Newbery Honor for his picture book, Freedom Over Me (Atheneum/Dlouhy). In addition to serving as a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer, he is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King—Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
Bryan said in a statement, “It is a true honor to be chosen by ABC and CBC for this recognition. The work they do, in so many ways, with the charities and programs that they support, that ultimately bring books to children, is wonderful. I’m glad to do what I can to help.”
Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, senior program director at ABA, and Shaina Birkhead, programming and strategic partnerships director at CBC and Every Child a Reader, said in a joint statement, “Now more than ever, events supporting free speech, great art, and children’s literacy are vital. We are thrilled that Ashley Bryan will be this year’s honoree!”
The announcement of the CBC’s 2018 Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards will immediately precede the auction. Co-hosts Sean Qualls and Selina Alko, husband-and-wife illustrators of Why Am I Me? (Scholastic Press), will present this year’s winners.
