The Power of Bilingual Storytelling featuring Meg Medina, Winner of the 2019 Newbery Medal

Best-selling children’s author, Meg Medina, winner of the 2019 Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears, visits MRL’s Central Library in downtown Harrisonburg.
 
This event, which is free and open to everyone, begins at 6 p.m with a reception and children’s activities, followed by readings by students from Harrisonburg City Public Schools. At 7 p.m., Meg Medina will speak on the "Power of Bilingual Storytelling." Following her talk, there will be time for questions as well as a book signing. (Books will be available for purchase.)

“The Power of Bilingual Storytelling” is a partnership between Massanutten Regional Library, Virginia Humanities, Harrisonburg City Public Schools and the Joshua Wilton House. This event is part of the “Changing the Narrative” program from Virginia Humanities with support from W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

About Meg Medina
Meg Medina is an award-winning Cuban American author of picture books, middle grade novels, and teen fiction. She recently won the 2019 Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears. She was the 2016 recipient of the Pura Belpré Honor medal for her picture book, Mango, Abuela and Me, the 2014 recipient of the Pura Belpre Medal for her young adult novel, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, and the 2012 recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats New Writers Medal for her picture book Tía Isa Wants a Car. Meg’s latest young adult novel, Burn Baby Burn, was long listed for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize. Her most recent middle grade novel, Merci Suárez Changes Gears (Candlewick 2018) is a Charlotte Huck 2019 Honor Award book, a SLJ Best Books of 2018, a New York Public Library Best Books 2018, and a Publishers Weekly Best Books 2018.
 
Born in Alexandria, Virginia and raised by her mother in Queens, New York, Medina was the first natural American citizen in her family. She grew up in a Spanish-speaking household filled with aunts, uncles, and grandparents, all of whom were tireless storytellers. Medina was a lifelong reader, but it wasn’t until she was in her twenties, when she picked up House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, that she saw herself and her life experiences on the written page. Today, she writes the kinds of stories she would have wanted to have as kid.
 
About the Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.