Americas Award to be presented

Authors Julia Alvarez and Carmen Tafolla and illustrator Magaly Morales will receive the 2009 Americas Award for Children’s and Young-Adult Literature at the 17th annual award presentation hosted by the Library of Congress. It will take place Saturday, Oct. 23, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.

The award is sponsored by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Program (CLASP) at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The Library of Congress’s Hispanic Division and the Center for the Book will host the event, which is free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made through the Hispanic Division at 202-707-6404.

Julia Alvarez will be honored for her book Return to Sender (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009). Carmen Tafolla and illustrator Magaly Morales will be recognized for What Can You Do With a Paleta? (Que puedes hacer con una paleta?) (Tricycle Press, 2009).

The Americas Award recognizes outstanding U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected nonfiction published in the previous year. The work must "authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean or Latinos in the United States." More information about the Americas Award and CLASP can be found at this webpage.

Learn more about the Hispanic Division and the Center for the Book, and check out the rich resources of the Library of Congress.