#CSK Blog of the Coretta Scott King Awards

[balkinbuddies]

Eloise Greenfield is the first author to be interviewed and saluted as a CSK Legend on the CSK Blog of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards

We were so pleased to hear that Eloise Greenfield was the first author to be interviewed and saluted as a CSK Legend by ALA's Office for Literacy & Outreach Services on the CSK Blog of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards!

Ms. Greenfield, who won the Coretta Scott King Book Award in 1978 for AFRICA DREAM (HarperCollins) as well as 6 subsequent Honor Books, including THE GREAT MIGRATION (HarperCollins) in 2012, was also the recipient of the 2018 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award. It comes as no surprise to us here at Balkin Buddies then to learn about this salute on the CSK Blog of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. We hope you enjoy the salute, especially as it contains such a wonderful interview with Ms. Greenfield and includes fascinating information about her life and her work. When we asked her about the questions she was asked for the interview, Ms. Greenfield said: “Great questions, such as these, give me the opportunity to review my life, to see all the events and emotions I have experienced.”

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Greenfield on this honor and, as always, feel free to contact Balkin Buddies with any questions you may have about her.

[womenoflibraryhistory]

This blog post from the ALA Archives at the University of Illinois Archives highlights the work of librarians Glyndon Flynt Greer and Mable McKissick, two of the founders of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards:

It was founded by librarians Glyndon Flynt Greer and Mable McKissick, and publisher John Carroll during the 1969 American Library Association Annual Conference in Atlantic City. According to McKissick, “We [her and Greer] met at the booth of John Carroll. Since it was the day before the Newbery/Caldecott awards, the discussion turned to Black authors …”(2) and their lack of representation. It is reported that Carroll overhead the conversation and asked, “Then why don’t you ladies establish your own award?”(3)