Children's Literature Celebration

CELEBRATION 2004 - ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Deborah Ellis - See pictures
Deborah Ellis works as a mental health residential counsellor in Toronto and is the winner of the Governor General's Award in Canada (equivalent to the Carnegie Medal) for her first novel Looking for X. She was raised in Paris, Ontario and from the time she was 17 she has been a political activist, advocating non-violence. She has spent time in Afghan refugee camps and Pakistan, and interviewed women and documented their lives during 20 years of war. She felt it was important to put names and faces to the people that we see on television. Deborah Ellis will receive a Special Commendation from the 2004 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards for The Breadwinner Trilogy a series of realistic novels of children in contemporary Afghanistan, orphaned and displaced by war; The Breadwinner, Paravana's Journey, and Mud City.
For more information about the author, go to:
http://aol.bookreporter.com/authors/au-ellis-deborah.asp
http://www.janeaddamspeace.org/index.asp

Francisco Jiménez - See pictures
Jimenez is the Fay Boyle Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Santa Clara University, and Director of the University’s Ethnic Studies Program. He has taught at SCU since 1973, and much of his teaching and writing have been framed by his experiences as the child of Mexican migrant farm workers. Jimenez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He is the author of two award-winning books: The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child (1997), and Breaking Through (2001). His two picture books also tell the story of his younger years: La Mariposa, and The Christmas Gift, both won national book awards;
For more information about the author, go to:
http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Programs/Diversity/frjim.html
http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Programs/Diversity/panch.html
http://www.scu.edu/news/releases/release.cfm?month=1102&story=Jimenez

Jane Kurtz - See pictures
Award-winning children's author Jane Kurtz has written about other times--as in her novel for young readers that features Wisconsin heroine Frances Willard--and far-away places--as in her novels, picture books, and short story collection that connect with Africa. As someone who has taught at the elementary, secondary, and university level, she sees books that require an imaginative leap to be vital for teaching excellent
reading, writing, and research skills as well as for preparing students to be citizens of a complex world. For more information about Jane, go to: http://www.janekurtz.com/

An Na - See pictures
An Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. She is a graduate of Amherst College and received her MFA in Writing Children’s Literature from Vermont College. A former middle school English and history teacher, she now writes full time. She lives in Kensington, CA. A Step From Heaven is her first novel. For more information about the author, go to:
http://www.frontstreetbooks.com/all_books.htm

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