Nonfiction's Leading Role at the Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature '09
October 19, 2009
2009 is proving to be a very good year for kids' nonfiction. Three of the five finalists for the National Book Awards' prize in "young people's literature" are nonfiction. The long list of potential nominees for the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards'(the Cybils') Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction is especially strong.
And here comes the 2009 Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature, with a focus on—nonfiction ("creative biography and historical events") for older children. Sponsored by the Westport (CT) Library, the three-day event begins Thursday, October 22nd, and runs through Saturday, October 24th. Always a draw for big-name authors, Rabbit Hill '09 will feature Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Tonya Bolden, Candace Fleming, Dennis Fradin, Judith Fradin, and Gary D. Schmidt.
The festivities begin on Thursday evening, with a reading by all of the authors involved. For a complete schedule of events, head over to the Rabbit Hill web site.
I'm in the middle of Candace Fleming's new book, The Great and Only Barnum. It's a fascinating biography of the ultimate showman, P.T. Barnum, whose home base was in Bridgeport, two towns away from Westport. Given the recent Barnum-esque "balloon boy" escapades, I'm looking forward to hearing Fleming's talk, along with the others, on Saturday morning at Rabbit Hill.
Today is Nonfiction Monday: links to other kids' nonfiction book recommendations can be found at the blog Lori Calabrese Writes!
And we just learned that Eric Rohmann will be there also autographing on Saturday afternoon.
Posted by: maxine | October 20, 2009 at 09:22 PM
Excellent!
Posted by: Susan (Chicken Spaghetti) | October 21, 2009 at 07:55 AM
Brilliant!!!
Posted by: fioricet | October 23, 2009 at 12:01 AM