Author Jenny Han, left, holding banner, coordinated the New York City
group of #KidLitMarchesForKids. Photo by Justin Chanda.

The children's literature community came together among hundreds of thousands of others at March for Our Lives events around the country, and around the world. Marching behind a #KidLitMarchesForKids banner, they showed up to support, and lend their voices to, the young people leading this movement for stronger gun control laws in the United States. KidLitMarchesforKids was born during a discussion between authors Raina Telgemeier (Smile and Drama) and Jenny Han (To All The Boys I Loved Before), and culminated in authors, illustrators, agents, editors, and others in the children's literature world marching, carrying signs, and supporting the kids they have served throughout their professional careers. "It was so powerful to hear the kids tell their stories firsthand, to see all the little ones marching on their parents' shoulders," said Han, who led the NYC group. "It reminds us why we're doing all of this and who we're doing it for." Han and her banner led approximately 60 people, including author Bruce Coville. "I had to be here," said Coville, author of the "My Teacher" and "Magic Shop" series among other titles. "Seriously, enough is enough." When asked why he chose to march with the #KidLit crowd, he said, "These are my people," he said. So are the kids they were out supporting. "I taught for seven years and have been publishing for 40 years, my entire adult life has been about serving kids," said Coville. Celia Lee, an editor at Scholastic, was there wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt with orange and black ribbons pinned to it. Lee was a student at the university in April 2007 when a gunman opened fire in a classroom and killed 32 fellow students and himself. "It's a little overwhelming," she said of the march, before adding, "in a good way." She was "so excited" when she saw the children's literature community was coming together for the marches. "I am part of the kid lit community," she says. "It was an amazing opportunity to march with colleagues." Terry Borzumato-Greenberg and her husband Allan Greenberg walked with the group as well. "I've devoted my whole life to children and children's books," said Borzumato-Greenberg, who works for Holiday House. "Now more than ever, my voice is for our children, to help protect them and make their world safe." The group walked together, talking politics and gun control, as well as discussing editing, new cover art and future book ideas. When the program began, they stood silently listening to the voices from blocks away thanks to speakers set up along the route. During the hour-long program, the names of those killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were read, followed by an eerie moment of silence, as the city's packed streets were completely quiet. Marchers heard from survivors at MSD, as well as the grandmother of a girl who died in the February 14 shooting. A teen whose father and two uncles died at the World Trade Center on September 11 asked lawmakers to enact the kind of legislative change for gun control as they did after the terrorist attack. A spokesperson for the Black Lives Matter Youth Coalition spoke, as did many children and teens whose lives have been touched by gun violence. The crows also heard from Mary Ann Jacobs, who worked in the Sandy Hook Elementary School library in 2012 when 20 students and six faculty members were killed. "I have listened to thoughts and prayers of people all over the country for the last five years as Americans are murdered in their churches, in their schools, at work and at home," said Jacobs, who talked about suicides, victims of domestic violence and others beyond school shooting victims. "I'm so glad you are all ready to join the fight to end gun violence once and for all."

More pictures from New York:

The NYC crowd before heading over to the march. Photo by Justin Chanda.

 

Author Bruce Coville, left in hat, talks with fellow marchers. Right: Terry Borzumato-Greenberg.

Rebecca Sherman, a literary agent at Writers House, put an Atticus Finch
quote from "To Kill a Mockingbird" on her sign for the march.

Photo by Justin Chanda

pictures of the children's literature community at rallies and marches around the country, and around the world:

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