Pitt's Greensburg Campus to Host Annual Children's Literature Conference

PITTSBURGH-Authors and educators will be among those gathering at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg (UPG) campus May 4 for the 11th Annual Children's Literature Conference-aimed at keeping children excited about reading and exploring new trends in children's books. The event runs from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Powers Hall, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg, 150 Finoli Dr., Greensburg.

Authors scheduled to speak include:

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, who writes picture books, novels, and nonfiction for young people. She won the Newbery Honor Award for "Hitler Youth:

Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2005). She also wrote

"Kids on Strike!" (Houghton Mifflin, 2003) and "Growing Up in Coal Country"

(Houghton Mifflin, 1999).

Bruce Coville, author of more than 90 books for young people, including

My Teacher is an Alien (Aladdin, 1990) and the popular "Unicorn Chronicles"

(Scholastic Paperbooks) series. He is the founder of Full Cast Audio, an

audiobook publishing company devoted to producing material for family listening.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, a Pittsburgh author who wrote "Aunt Flossie's

Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)" (Clarion Books, 1995) and "Virgie Goes to School

With Us Boys" (Simon & Schuster, 2000). She writes about ordinary and

extraordinary African Americans in an effort to show that hers are truly

American stories.

Mary Bartek, educator and author of "Funerals and Fly Fishing" (Holt, 2004),

included in Bank Street College's "Best Children's Books of 2005." It also was

nominated for both the Missouri Mark Twain Award and the Georgia

Children's Book Award.

Conference breakout sessions will cover topics ranging from using picture books in the classroom and developing summer reading programs to writing for teenagers and gaining insight into the book publication process.

Registration fee is $70. For more information about the conference or to register, call 724-836-7159 or visit www.pitt.edu/~upglib/webclc.html.

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4/27/07/tmw