PLEASE NOTE: This event has already occurred.
Please remember that events may be canceled or rescheduled last minute due to unpredictable weather or other factors. We encourage you to reach out to event organizers before heading out to an event to verify it is still happening.
Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/05/2024
9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Location
Campus Instructional Facility
Categories
The Youth Literature Festival celebrates the value of literature in the lives of youth by bringing together national authors, illustrators, poets, and storytellers to share their stories, their craft, and their enthusiasm for literacy with children and teens. A central part of the festival is author visits to area schools across 6 counties. The festival culminates on Saturday, October 5th in Community Day at the Campus Instructional Facility, a celebration free to the public with author presentations, hands-on activities, performances, puppetry, storytelling, and music.
Authors – Ready to Share a Love of Literature
Diverse authors working in a variety of genres and appealing to students at many different age levels will be visiting campus this October. The 15 authors who are participating in the 2024 event include:
Chris Barton – Children’s Author, Glitter Everywhere
Tameka Fryer Brown – Picture Book Author, Twelve Dinging Doorbells
Debbi Michiko Florence – Children’s Author, Jasmine Toguchi Series
Suzanne Garcia-Mateus – Children’s Writer, Vitamina T for Tacos; Vitamina C for Cultura
Xavier Garcia – Author/Illustrator, Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask; La Llorona Can’t Scare Me
Shannon Gibney – Writer, Educator, Activist, When we Become Ours; Sam and the Incredible African American Food Fight
Janice Harrington – Storyteller, Poet, Children’s Writer, Hurry Kate, or You’ll be Late; Rooting for Plants
Alice McGinty – Children’s Writer, Bathe the Cat
Magdalena Mora – Illustrator, The Fish of Small Wishes; Barrio Rising: The Protest that Built Chicano Park
Hannah Moushabeck – Author, Editor, Marketer, Homeland
Greg Neri – Author, My Antarctica; Ghetto Cowboy (inspiration for the Netflix film Concrete Cowboy)
Ellen Oh – Author, Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee; You are Here, Allida
Justin A. Reynolds – Author, Screenwriter, Miles Morales Series
Dawn Quigley – Author, Educator, Apple in the Middle; Jo Jo Makoons Series
For more details and the schedule of events check out the event website.
Parking Information
Free weekend parking is available in Lot B1 at the corner of Springfield and Matthews. Additional metered parking is available at the Campus Center Public Parking Deck, at the meters along Springfield Ave and Wright Street, and any other open meters surrounding the building area.
A limited number of prepaid, bagged meter spots will be available outside of the building on Springfield Avenue for those with disability and mobility-related issues. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in the Youth Literature Festival, please contact Mackenzie Gillespie at dankle@illinois.edu or call (217) 300-1774. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your accessibility needs.
