So I will write my poem, but I will leave room for the world.
I will write my poem tenderly and simply, but
I will leave room for the wind combing the grass,
for the feather falling out of the grouse's fan-tail,
and fluttering down, like a song.
— Mary Oliver,
"Work" in The Leaf and the Cloud
Mary Oliver's words capture the unassuming and liberating possibilities of our Institute theme, Make Way. We make our way every day, wandering along paths familiar and unknown, alone or with companions, new and old. We travel with stories in our hearts, sketches in our hands, and poems on our lips. We revel in small moments of insight, and we sing to the world of surprises.
Make Way rejoices in the quotidian. It invites us to encounter the unexpected. It charges us to find humility in how much we have yet to notice. Make Way summons us to lead—and to follow. It reminds us that, in order to Make Way, we might need to get out of the way.
In our work with or on behalf of young people, we commit to making way for them. We hear their cries against injustice. We trust that they'll find better ways than those we've taken. We burden them with creating the humanity of peace and equality we have been unable to achieve.
Make Way beckons Institute participants to reflect on their work as makers and wayfinders. What innovations in form or subject do they risk? From picturebooks to graphic novels, memoirs to fictions, informational books to narrative poetry, how do they usher in change? What do they bring? What chances do they take?
In Gratitude
Many thanks to Grace Lin for allowing us to use her art to interpret the Institute theme. Make Way For Dumplings: 20 Years of the Art of Grace Lin will be on exhibit in the Trustman Art Gallery, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA for the month of July 2019.
Speakers
M.T. Anderson
M.T. Anderson, 2019 Margaret A. Edwards Award winner for his significant contributions to young adult literature, experiments with narrative form in the futuristic satire Feed, in the clever and bold political lampooning of The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge (both Candlewick), and in the echoic rhythms of Strange Mr. Satie (Viking).
Elisha Cooper
A 2016 Maurice Sendak Fellow, Elisha Cooper's deceptively simple, gestural style in titles such as the 2018 Caldecott Honor book, Big Cat, Little Cat (Roaring Brook), and the 2001 New York Times Best Illustrated title, Dance! (Greenwillow), claims space for spare, expressive picturebooks in the digital age.
Emily Feinberg
Emily Feinberg earned MA degrees in English and Children's Literature simultaneously at Simmons University. Currently an Associate Editor at Roaring Brook Press, she paves the way for creators like Elisha Cooper, as well as other picturebook, middle grade, and nonfiction authors and illustrators.
Eric Gansworth
A passion for music infuses Eric Gansworth's two young adult novels set at the Tuscarora Nation. If I Ever Get Out of Here, a 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor, and Give Me Some Truth (both Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic) center on Native young adult characters determined to resist the boundaries that try to define them.
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Jarrett J. Krosoczka, perhaps best known to young readers for his indefatigable Lunch Lady, was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Hey, Kiddo (Scholastic), a celebrated graphic memoir about growing up as a kiddo who found his way through art in a family stressed by absence and addiction.
Grace Lin
Grace Lin's star continues to rise with every new way of telling her stories. She received a 2019 Caldecott Honor for A Big Mooncake for Little Star, a 2010 Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and a 2011 Geisel Honor for Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! She was a 2016 National Book Finalist for When the Sea Turned to Silver (all Little, Brown).
Alvina Ling
Alvina Ling, a self-described lifelong bookworm, takes the lead in bringing diverse characters and stories to readers through her work as Vice-President and Editor-in-Chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Not only has she been Grace Lin's editor, but she also co-hosts their Book Friends Forever podcast.
Jessica Love
Jessica Love debuted with Julián Is a Mermaid (Candlewick), a picturebook about imagination, wonder, and acceptance of non-binary gender performance that was recognized by the 2019 Stonewall Award and the Bologna Ragazzi 2019 Debut Author Award.
Oge Mora
Winner of the 2019 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, Oge Mora brings a vibrant interplay of art and text to traditional and original stories. Thank You, Omu! (Little, Brown) won the 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Award and was celebrated as a 2019 Caldecott Honor and tells a delicious community in cut-out, pastels, and markers.
Martha V. Parravano
As Book Review Editor of The Horn Book Magazine and co-author of A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature (Candlewick), Martha V. Parravano highlights the original and exemplary in children's books.
Elizabeth Partridge
National Book Award Finalist and Printz Honor recipient Elizabeth Partridge selects social change agents as subjects of her photobiographies and works of nonfiction, including the 2018 Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam, and 2009's Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary (both Viking).
Mitali Perkins
Mitali Perkins writes across genre to engage readers of all ages in compelling stories that center cultural identities and reach across cultural divides, including the recent You Bring the Distant Near (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a 2017 Walter Award Honor, and the 2015 South Asia Book Award winner, Tiger Boy (Charlesbridge).
Vicky Smith
In addition to her work advocating for excellence in books for young people as Children's Editor at Kirkus, Vicky Smith once made history as a Guinness World Record holder for longest team read-aloud.
Duncan Tonatiuh
The call for social justice resounds through the work of 2018 Américas Award winner, Duncan Tonatiuh. He has received multiple recognitions by the Pura Belpré for his images and words and has twice won the Robert Sibert Award, in 2015 for Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation, and in 2016 for Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras (both Abrams).
Eric L. Tribunella
Eric L. Tribunella, Professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi, has expanded the discourse about sexuality with essays such as "Pedophobia and the Orphan Girl in Pollyanna and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning." In Melancholia and Maturation: The Use of Trauma in American Children's Literature (University of Tennessee), Tribunella rethinks the response to loss presented in children's stories.
Carole Boston Weatherford
Coretta Scott King Award honoree Carole Boston Weatherford realizes her mission "to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles" in acclaimed books, such as Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (Candlewick) and Freedom in Congo Square (little bee books).
Padma Venkatraman
In The Bridge Home (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Random House), Padma Venkatraman follows four homeless children on their courageous journey through Chennai, India. Climbing the Stairs (Putnam), winner of a 2009 Julia Howe Book Award, positions the central character between traditional and personal values.