Save the Date: Meg Medina to Speak on Children’s Literature

On Tuesday, February 27^th, the University of Maryland will host our very own National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Meg Medina, for the 2024 McLeod Lecture series: “Advocating for Books, Children and Imagination in a Time of Division.” This hybrid event is free to attend.

The MacLeod lecture, a signature program of the university’s College of Information Studies, was created in 1999 in memory of Anne Scott MacLeod, “a noted authority on children’s literature and a faculty member emerita of the University of Maryland. [T]he MacLeod lecture is devoted to introducing scholarly issues associated with children’s literature to a broad audience” (from event website). Medina and Allister Chang, an advisory board member of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards and the Ward 2 Member of the DC State Board of Education, will be in conversation with the audience about young people’s literature, libraries and the freedom to read.

Event organizer Dr. Katrina Fenlon, Assistant professor and Co-director of the Master’s in Library and Information Science program at the UMD College of Information Studies, emphasized the wide-reaching value of this conversation:

Advocacy for libraries and intellectual freedom safeguards the rights of learners—of every age and from every background. Progress in advocacy necessarily involves a broad community—from across our university, among our alumni, and among libraries and educational institutions across the region. We are therefore thrilled to be hosting such impactful, thoughtful, and creative leaders as Meg Medina and Allister Chang in this timely conversation.

This is a hybrid discussion held both in person and online from 5 PM to 6 PM EST, followed by an in-person reception and book signing from 6 PM to 7 PM. To find out more and to register, follow this link.

We’d love to know if you attend this event! Let us know if you attend by commenting below or tagging us on social media @librarycongress.