Press Release

1999 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Given to Children's Book Author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen

The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Will Present the Award at a Ceremony on April 22

New York City, March 23, 1999: -- The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation are pleased to announce that children's book author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen has won the 1999 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. The Award, which recognizes and celebrates promising new children's book authors, goes to Ms. Stuve-Bodeen for Elizabeti's Doll (Lee and Low Books).

The Award will be presented to Ms. Stuve-Bodeen on Thursday, April 22, at 5 p.m., at a ceremony to be held at the Library's Early Childhood Resource and Information Center (ECRIC), at 66 Leroy Street in Manhattan. Ms. Stuve-Bodeen will receive the Ezra Jack Keats silver medallion and a $1,000 cash prize, made possible through the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.  The Award is named in honor of children's book author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (The Snowy Day), winner of the Caldecott Medal. The ceremony is open to the public.

Elizabeti's Doll, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen's first picture book, is a universal tale of love and caring in which a young Tanzanian girl finds a special doll to love after the arrival of her new baby brother. The book, which is illustrated with the mixed media artwork of Christy Hale, was selected a "Best Book of the Year" by School Library Journal and has received many additional rave reviews. Elizabeti's Doll will be made into a children's film by Weston Woods, to be released in 2000. Ms. Stuve-Bodeen, who lived in Tanzania as a Peace Corps volunteer, currently resides in Minnesota.

The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award is given annually to an outstanding new writer of picture books for children (age 9 and under) and is presented jointly by The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. A selection committee consisting of early childhood education specialists, librarians, and experts in children's literature, reviewed more than 200 entries this year, seeking books that portray the universal qualities of childhood, strong and supportive family and adult relationships, and the multicultural nature of our world. Candidates are judged by the quality of their writing. As of this year, the Ezra Jack Keats Award will be presented annually, rather than every other year as previously.

Previous Winners
Previous winners of the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award are:
1997 ? Juan Felipe Herrera for Calling the Doves, illustrated by Elly Simmons (Children's Book
 Press)
1995 ? Cari Best for Taxi! Taxi!, illustrated by Dale Gottlieb (Little, Brown & Co.)
1993 ? Faith Ringgold for Tar Beach (Crown Publishers)
1991 ? Angela Johnson for Tell Me a Story Mama, illustrated by David Soman (Orchard)
1989 ? Yoriko Tsutsui for Anna's Special Present, illustrated by Akiko Hayashi (Viking Kestrel)
1987 ? Juanita Havill for Jamaica's Find, illustrated by Anne Sibley O'Brien (Houghton Mifflin)
1986 ? Valerie Flournoy for The Patchwork Quilt, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (Dial Books)

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation was established by the artist before his death in 1983. It is dedicated to encouraging creativity, literacy, and joy in learning for children and to fostering recognition for outstanding new children's book authors.

The Early Childhood Resource and Information Center
Since its inception in 1978, The New York Public Library's Early Childhood Resource and Information Center (ECRIC) has been providing free services to anyone ? from parents and caregivers to early childhood education specialists ? who lives or works with children from birth to age six. ECRIC's Resource Collection houses reference and circulating materials on child development, with a special focus on language development and pre-literacy skills. A family room is arranged to encourage interaction between child and caregiver. ECRIC offers a variety of programs and workshops, given by specialists and experts in the field, focusing primarily on early childhood education. The Center is located on the second floor of the Hudson Park Library at 66 Leroy Street.

Image used by permission of the publisher, Lee and Low Books.

Return to Press Releases

thoerenz: pro: 3-26-99