ILLINOIS LIBRARIES PRESENT

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Litera48ture. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. 

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Chef Art Smith began his culinary journey with formal training at the Florida Culinary Institute and honed his skills working with top chefs in France. He became Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef for a decade, boosting his reputation as a top-tier chef. In 1997, he opened "Table Fifty-Two" in Chicago, known for its modern Southern dishes and locally sourced ingredients.

Smith is also a prolific cookbook author and TV personality, sharing his passion for Southern cuisine. He expanded his culinary empire with "Homecomin' Florida Kitchen" at Walt Disney World Resort and "Reunion" at Chicago's Navy Pier. Smith's work celebrates Southern flavors, inclusivity, and culinary innovation.

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Raina Telgemeier is the author and illustrator of the graphic novels Smile, Drama, Sisters, Ghosts, and Guts, all #1 New York Times bestsellers. She also adapted and illustrated four graphic novel versions of Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series, and has contributed short stories to many anthologies. Raina’s accolades include six Eisner Awards, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and many Best-of and Notables lists.

A critically acclaimed comics artist, Raina Telgemeier grew up in San Francisco, then moved to New York City, where she earned an illustration degree at the School of Visual Arts. Now, Raina lives and works in San Francisco, CA.

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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Illinois Libraries Present and Erika Sánchez, award-winning author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. She will be joined in conversation by Cynthia Pelayo.

Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, was a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and Tomás Rivera Award winner. Recognized by Time as one of the best YA novels of all time, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter has also been adapted for the stage at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and is being made into a film directed by America Ferrera.

Sánchez’ critically acclaimed memoir-in-essays, Crying in the Bathroom, won the Chicago Review of Books Nonfiction award. Sánchez was a Fulbright Scholar, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent fellow from the Poetry Foundation, a Princeton Arts Fellow, a recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She lives in Chicago with her family.

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. Pelayo writes fairytales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and violence. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, and The Shoemaker’s Magician.

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