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"Open a Door... Open a Book...
Open your Mind... to the World"6th Annual International Children's Literature
and Young Adult Literature CelebrationSaturday, November 17, 2007
Hefter Conference Center, UW-Milwaukee
9:00 am to 4:30 pmAbout the Authors
Beverley Naidoo Beverley Naidoo was born into a white, middle-class family in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1943. She graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in 1963. Her involvement with the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa led to her being imprisoned in solitary confinement for eight weeks at the age of 21. She left for England in 1965 and studied at the University of York with the help of a United Nations Bursary, training to become a teacher. She taught both primary and secondary children in London for 18 years. She obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Southampton in 1991 and worked as Adviser for Cultural Diversity and English in Dorset. She has tutored Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and run workshops for young people and adults in Britain and abroad, including for the British Council. She married another South African exile and returned freely to South Africa for the first time in 1991. Her first novel for children, Journey to Jo'burg, was published in 1985. A powerful portrayal of racism seen from a child's perspective, the book was banned in South Africa until 1991. A sequel, Chain of Fire, was published in 1989. No Turning Back (1995) was written after running workshops for young people in South Africa with theatre director Olusola Oyeleye. The Other Side of Truth (2000) was inspired in part by the execution of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and tells the story of two Nigerian children who flee to London as refugees after their mother is killed.
Her collection of stories Out of Bounds (2001), with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, covers six decades of South African history under apartheid and after the first democratic elections. She has also written picture books and collaborated with her daughter Maya on Baba's Gift (2003). Her first play, The Playground, was produced by the Polka Theatre in London in 2003 and was named a Time Out 2004 Critics' Choice.
Beverley Naidoo's most recent novels are Web of Lies (2004), a sequel to The Other Side of Truth; and Burn My Heart (2007).
Works by the Author:
For more information about the author, go to http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/index2.html.
Book available with registration: The Other Side of Truth (2000) Grades 5-9. When Nigeria's corrupt military government kills their mother, twelve-year-old Sade and her brother Femi think their lives are over. Out of fear for their safety, their father, an outspoken journalist, decides to smuggle the children out of Nigeria and into London, where their uncle lives. But when they get to the cold and massive city, they find themselves lost and alone, with no one to trust and no idea when, or if, they will ever see their father again. The Other Side of Truth is a gripping adventure story about courage, family, and the power of truth.
Naomi Shihab Nye Descending from a half-Palestinian and half-American family tree, Naomi Shihab Nye is an appealing figure paving the way for ethnic poets and young poets alike. Although she was born in Missouri, she is well traveled. She lived in Jerusalem but currently resides in Texas with her son, Madison, and husband, Michael, who is a photographer. The fact that Nye originated from such a transient and ethnic family acted as a springboard for her future career as an author. She is known for her essays and anthologies of the Middle East, which includes, perhaps her most famous Middle Eastern based anthology, Different Ways to Pray, published in 1980. However, despite her wide range of exposures to other cultures, Naomi Shihab Nye often chooses to write about the little details of life that we often take for granted. She says that she wanted to remember all of the details in her eventful and fruitful life. Consequentially, she keeps a journal. She has had a hunger to write poetry since seven years of age, when she composed her first poem. Since then she received an education from Trinity University located in Texas, along with many awards. Her works Different Ways to Pray and Hugging the Jukebox won the Voertman Poetry Prize. She has also earned three Pushcart Prizes. Her books Hugging the Jukebox and This Same Sky have been selected as worthy by the American Library Association. Naomi Shihab Nye has been featured on NPR and Prairie Home Companion. She has been granted a Guggenheim fellowship. Nye has also appeared on more than one PBS documentaries. She has received the Jane Adams Children's Book Award and The Paterson Poetry Prize. In addition to being a noteworthy author, Nye is also a singer and a teacher of a poetry workshop and a first-year MSA seminar.
Works by the Author:
Book available with registration: Habibi (1997) Grades 5-9. The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St. Louis all the way to Palestine. Though her father grew up there, Liyana knows very little about her family's Arab heritage. Her grandmother and the rest of her relatives who live in the West Bank are strangers, and speak a language she can't understand. It isn't until she meets Omer that her homesickness fades. But Omer is Jewish, and their friendship is silently forbidden in this land. How can they make their families understand? And how can Liyana ever learn to call this place home?
Kashmira Sheth Kashmira was born in Bhavangar, India. Bhavangar is a city in the western state of Gujarat. She started Montessori school when she was three years old and lived in Bhavangar with her grandparents until she was eight. Afterwards, Kashmira moved to Mumbai, India, where her parents lived. Mumbai is a big city on the west coast of India, about 300 miles south of Bhavangar. Kashmira moved to the US when she was seventeen to attend college in Ames, Iowa, where she received her BS in microbiology from Iowa State University. She worked as a microbiologist for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture in Madison for many years. Here Kashmira responds to the question of how she became a children's book writer:
When I was growing up, my grandparents and my parents told me and my brother stories. Many of them were from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. They also told us tales from Panchatantra, which are animal fables. When I was in school, I read novels written in Gujarati. My favorite books were historical fictions. I also loved to read and write poetry. At that time I wanted to go into a science field, and eventually, I became a microbiologist. A few years ago, I received a letter from one of my uncles in which he wrote about his childhood. His writing made me see the world that existed in a different time and made me realize the power of words. That is why I decided to write.Works by the Author:
Book available with registration: Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet (2006) Grades 8 and up. Jeeta's family is caught up in the whirlwind of arranging marriages for her two older sisters, but the drama and excitement leave Jeeta cold. She dreads her turn on the matrimonial circuit, especially since Mummy is always complaining about how difficult it will be to find Jeeta a good husband. As Jeeta spends more time with her new friend from school, Sarina, and her educated, liberal parents, she begins to question her tradition-bound family's expectations. And when she falls in love with Sarina's cousin Neel, Jeeta realizes that she must strike a balance between independence and duty and follow her own path. Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet is an engaging coming-of-age novel set in contemporary Mumbai..