Ashley Bryan Wins 2011 Regina Medal
RSSBy SLJ Staff
Bryan, 87, grew up one of six children in Harlem and his passion for children's books started early, when he began illustrating ABC and counting books while in kindergarten. An illustrator, writer, and coauthor of more than 40 books, Bryan was the 2009 winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, which also recognized his substantial and lasting contribution to the field. His work evokes the oral tradition through use of the rhythms of poetry, and his artwork includes a variety of media, from tempera and block prints to sepia-line drawings and watercolors. Bryan's long career in teaching art culminated with his retirement as Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College in the 1980s. But his road to success wasn't easy. When Bryan first applied for an art scholarship in the 1940s, he was told that "it was a waste to give a scholarship to a colored person," he has said. In the 1960s, when Bryan was in his 40s, he was discovered by Jean Karl, the founder of Atheneum Books, who encouraged him to create children's books. Bryan eventually went on to win the 1990 Arbuthnot Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in children's literature, the 1993 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen United States Nomination for illustration, the Silver Medallion for Contributions to Children's Literature, and the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award. His award-winning Walk Together Children (1974, Atheneum) was an ALA Notable Book in 1974. He also has three Coretta Scott King Awards for outstanding literature under his belt-for Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum in 1981, Beautiful Blackbird in 2004, and most recently for Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals in 2008. He also has many King honors for books including Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales, Ashley Bryan's ABC's of African American Poetry, and What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals. Established in 1959, the Regina Medal is given by Catholic Library Association and recognizes "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contribution."Bryan, who illustrated the most recent All Things Bright and Beautiful (Atheneum, 2010), will receive his award on April 27, 2011, at the Catholic Library Association Conference in New Orleans. Bryan, a graduate of Cooper Union Art School and Columbia University, lives on Little Cranberry Island off the coast of Maine, where he paints, writes, and makes puppets and stained glass panels from objects found on the beach. The rest of his time is spent traveling around the world, giving puppet shows, poetry and storytelling presentations, and building schools and libraries in Africa.
Award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Bryan, whose work is often culled from African and international folktales, is this year's winner of the Regina Medal for his contribution to children's literature.
