The Children's Literature Lecture Award (known as the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture from 1970 to 2020) is an annual event sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association. The organization counts selection as the lecturer among its "Book & Media Awards", for selection recognizes a career contribution to children's literature. At the same time, the lecturer "shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children's literature", to be delivered as the Children's Literature Lecture and to be published in the ALSC journal Children & Libraries.
The lecture was funded in 1969 to honor the educator May Hill Arbuthnot and first held in 1970. Arbuthnot was one creator of "Dick and Jane" readers and she wrote the first three editions of Children and Books (Scott, Foresman 1947, 1957, 1964). When informed of the new honorary lecture in her name, "she recalled 'that long stretch of years when I was dashing from one end of the country to the other, bringing children and books together by way of the spoken word. It was renamed the "Children's Literature Lecture Award" in January 2020.About the Children's Literature Lecture Award
The lecturer may be an "author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country". The Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee selects one from a list of nominations, a process currently completed in January 15 to 18 months before the event. Then institutions apply to be the host: any "library school, department of education in college or university, or a children's library system". Several months later the same committee selects the host institution from the applicants.
Lectures
+ May Hill Arbuthnot LecturesYearLecturerTitleHostCity, State 2026Cynthia Leitich Smithtbatbatba2025Kyle Lukoff"What Do We Ask Books To Do"Multnomah County LibraryPortland, Oregon2024Rita Williams-Garcia"A Funny Thing About Memory"Carnegie Library of PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2023
"Dreamwalker" Dayton Metro Library University of Dayton 2022 No lecturer selected due to delays in lectures caused by COVID-19Children's Literature Lecture Award
2021
Due to "unforeseen circumstances", no lecture was given. Instead, a "virtual celebration of Dr. Bishop's work and her impact on the field of children's literature" was hosted by ALSC.Registration open for 2021 Children’s Literature Lecture Celebration honoring Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop Hosted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020
Sacramento Public Library 2019
University of Wisconsin–Madison 2018
"REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED - Our Lives of Reading & Writing" Western Washington University Whatcom County Library System 2017
"What Gets Left Behind: Stories From The Great Migration" South Carolina State Library The city of Columbia, South Carolina 2016
"Bookjoy! ¡Alegría en los libros!" Santa Barbara Public Library System 2015
"Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on Queerness and Family in Children's Books" DC Public Library 2014
"Rejoice the Legacy" (YouTube recording. Pinkney appears 12:15 minutes in.) Children's Literature Research Collections University of Minnesota Libraries 2013
"War Boy to War Horse" Nazareth College Youth Services Section of the New York Library Association 2012
"Reading in the Dark" (MUOhio recording) Miami University 2011 "Unleaving: The Staying Power of Gold" (brief YouTube recording) St. Louis County Library 2010 "Can Children's Books Save the World? Advocates for Diversity in Children's Books and Libraries" Riverside County Library System 2009 Langston Hughes Library at the Children's Defense Fund Alex Haley Farm 2008 "Thirteen Studios" (YouTube recording) South Central Library System 2007 "Books As Shelter: Going Home Again and Again" McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature, University of Kentucky SLIS 2006 Williamsburg Regional LibraryThe Library of VirginiaVirginia Foundation for the Humanities 2005 "Mutuality" Free Library of PhiladelphiaJulia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School 2004 "Cheek by Jowl: Animals in Children's Literature" Maricopa County Library District Arizona State UniversityArizona Center for the Book 2003 "Descent into Limbo" Cambridge Public LibraryChildren's Literature, Inc. 2002 "So She Went Into the Garden" Le Frak Hall, Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies 2001 "Time and Again" Scottish Rite CenterMultnomah County Library 2000 Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut 1999 "Editorial License: On Library Selection Connections" San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science 1998 "Instead of a Lecture" Richland County Public Library College of Library and Information Science at the university of South Carolina 1997 "In Search of Wonder" Northern State University 1996 Dallas Public Library 1995 "Imaginings and Images" University of Wisconsin 1994 "Across the Years, Across the Seas: Notes from an Errant Editor" Coronado Public Library 1993 "Everything of Value: Moral Realism in the Literature for Children" Virginia Center for the Book 1992 "Developing Lifetime Readers" Montana Library Association annual conference 1991 Library of Congress 1990 New Orleans Public Library 1989 University of Pittsburgh 1988 "Pushing up the Sun a Little" University of Oklahoma 1987 Northern Illinois University 1986 "All of a Tremble to See His Danger" University of Arkansas 1985 "Stones into Pools" Indiana University Stone Hills Area Library Services Authority 1984 "Bell, Book and Candle" Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center 1983 "Children and the Voices of Literature" Center for the Study of Literature for Young People at the University of Georgia 1982 "From Books to Buttons: Reflections From the Thirties to the Eighties" Florida State University 1981 "Information: A Necessity for Survival: Strategies for the Promotion of Children's Books in a Developing Country" Texas Woman's University 1980 "German Children's Literature From Its Beginning to the Nineteenth Century: A Historical Perspective" University of Wisconsin 1979 "Beyond the Garden Wall: Some Observations on Current Trends in Children's Literature" University of South Carolina 1978 "Tom and Laura from Right to Left: American Children's Books Experienced by Young Hebrew Readers" Boston Public Library 1977 "One of the Dozens" Boise State University 1976 Los Angeles Public Library 1975 "Talent Is Not Enough" Drexel University 1974 "Real Adventure Belongs To Us" University of Washington 1973 "Fortunate Moments in Children's Books" University of Missouri 1972 "One World in Children's Books" University of Chicago 1971 "Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature" Atlanta Memorial Arts Center 1970 "Rights and Wrongs" Case Western Reserve University
Repeat lectures
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee has hosted two lectures.
Two lecture titles allude to The Secret Garden, a 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
See also Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture Alice G. Smith Lecture
References