People

Newbery-winning author Donna Barba Higuera based Petra on someone who also kept her vision loss a secret: her mother. 

In a first for the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Meg Medina establishes office hours at the Library of Congress; AASL opens submissions for Innovative Reading Grant; there are big changes at Teachers College; the Mathical Book Prize submissions are open; and more in this edition of News Bites.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award winner took over SLJ’s Instagram for a live Q&A that spanned his books, inspiration, censorship, and AI. Here's what he shared.

On the occasion of receiving the 2023 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens, Jason Reynolds took the reins on SLJ's Instagram. Here's the full AMA, your feel-good watch of the day.

Julie Stivers’s library at Mount Vernon Middle School in Raleigh, NC, empowers academic-recovery students to “be brave together.”

Modernizing the library and creating a collection to match her community's needs has been key for Quilantan-Garza at Jaime Escalante Middle School in Pharr, TX, where most students are predominantly Spanish-speaking.

Building access and equity into her collection and programming has become Melissa Corey’s mission as media specialist at Robidoux Middle School in St. Joseph, MO.

Laurie Halse Anderson is the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award laureate; People includes Carolyn Foote and Becky Calzada on its list of "Women Changing the World," and more in this edition of News Bites.

A.S. King received the 2022 Margaret A. Edwards Award for “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” Karen Jensen, "Teen Librarian Toolbox" blogger, and her daughter, Riley, spoke to King for our June cover story.