Sharing out on behalf of Ismee Williams:) This is such an amazing and FREE event--I hope many of you can participate with your readers. Also, they are still looking for student questions and have classroom book sets to give away. If you know of any schools that are in need of free books, please let them know of this opportunity. Deadline is Nov 30th to submit and the details are on the educator page of the website (link below). 

--Melissa :)

The Latinx Kidlit Book Festival needs help letting schools and libraries know about our FREE, virtual Dec 9-10th festival and all the free content we are offering for educators and students. Would you mind sharing this announcement with any local school/library resources you might have? 

About the LKBF: Sessions are geared toward all schools, educators, students and book lovers, not just those identifying as Latinx. We designed the LKBF to serve as a virtual field trip for teachers and librarians, many of whom are still facing challenges due to the pandemic. Content will be available for students preK-12th grade and beyond!

Festival panels have been created in collaboration with teachers and educators, including members of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Latinx Caucus. This year, in addition to our regular panels featuring PB, MG, YA, Graphic novel and poetry authors and illustrators, we will offer sessions about the CRAFT of writing and illustrating kidlit books just for students. We will offer content in Spanish, perfect for ESL as well as Spanish language classrooms. We also have a special career-day panel with editors and agents who will introduce students to jobs in the book-making business.

Programming is meant to educate, entertain, and be a resource for schools, teachers, and librarians across the globe.

How to Watch: The festival will be streamed live on the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival YouTube channel on December 9-10, 2021. Sessions may be safely streamed into classrooms worldwide, and shared with students using an educator’s account. A live-chat option will allow students to engage with LKBF authors and illustrators. All content will be recorded and available even after the live festival concludes. A hearing impaired option will also be available.

Educator resources: We have numerous educator resources on our website including author/illustrator Flipgrid videos, craft video mini-lessons, educator guides, and a Latinx Kidlit book database searchable by age-range, theme, country of origin, etc for that educator who is looking for the perfect book for a specific student.

We will host a special educator-only session on Wed, Dec 8th in collaboration with NCTE and Disrupt Text's Lorena Germán, the purpose of which is to discuss ways to incorporate diverse books into classrooms and libraries. This would be ideal for any required DEI professional development. 

We also will have a Tues evening Dec 7th event geared towards prospective writers co-hosted by the Authors' Guild. Again, all of this content is free and accessible virtually.

Please help us spread the word! We have created this form for teachers to connect with the festival team and receive updates:  https://www.latinxkidlitbookfestival.com/school-info 

Here are links to festival IG, Twitter, FB graphics as well as posters that can be printed out and hung in schools and libraries to share with students and families.

Thank you so much! We look forward to seeing you and your students at the fiesta! 

Ismée Williams, Mayra Cuevas, Alex Villasante

Latinx Kidlit Book Festival Steering Committee