Ohio Advocates of Literacy and the Literary Arts Award Winners Announced

The LIT and the Virginia Hamilton Conference have been awarded the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library's Ohio Advocates of Literacy and the Literary Arts Awards. These winners will be honored in Cleveland during a ceremony at the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium of the Cleveland Public Library on Sunday, April 19, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. at Superior and East Sixth, as part of the “Writers & Readers Author Series,” with best-selling author Diana Ackerman as the featured speaker. This free event is open to the public; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library (OCB), a national affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, honors grassroots efforts to advocate, promote, and celebrate reading, literacy, and the culture of the book within the State of Ohio.

The 25^th Annual Virginia Hamilton Conference is the recipient of the 2009 Ohio Advocate of Literacy Award.  Under the direction of Dr. Carolyn S. Brodie, The Virginia Hamilton Conference is one of the longest-running events in the United States to focus exclusively on multicultural literature for children and young adults. Honoring Ohio children’s author Virginia Hamilton, the conference reflects a commitment to promoting cultural awareness through literacy. The conference is held each April at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, and attracts an audience from the state of Ohio and the entire country.

The LIT is the recipient of the 2009 Ohio Advocate of the Literary Arts Award.  The Lit: Cleveland's Literary Center (formerly The Poets' and Writers' League of Greater Cleveland) is dedicated to the improvement, appreciation, and growth of literary arts by fostering and promoting a thriving community of literary artists of all ages and across all genres. The LIT is committed to providing a venue and the opportunity to formally learn and practice, the craft of writing by offering workshops and programs to support the literary community.

This year the OCB will also give, posthumously, an Outstanding Achievement Award to Keith Kuhn.  Mr. Kuhn passed away on May 6, 2008 and at the time of his death was the Library Services Director of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. As a co-founder of the Cincinnati USA Books by the Bank Festival, a recipient of the 2007 American Library Association’s Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children, and a tireless worker in promoting libraries and literature, Kuhn’s impact on the literary activities in Ohio was substantial.