Renowned Writer To Present to Young Authors at Annual Conference

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Estella Zavala, 225-6437
Posted on: February 15, 2006

In celebration of TUSD’s Love of Reading Week, students from throughout TUSD will have the opportunity to hear poet and young adult novelist Gary Soto read from his work at the TUSD Title 1 annual Young Authors Conference from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 at the Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road. There will be an “Educators Meet the Author” reception from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the main conference room at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave. 

Over 1,100 students in grades K-12 will participate in this event. In addition to Gary Soto’s presentation, students will also have the opportunity to read to other students from books they wrote and published themselves. Schools used a variety of methods to determine selection including school committees, writing contests, and teacher selection or recommendation. All young authors will receive an autographed age-appropriate Gary Soto book and a bookmark that highlights the event. 

Gary Soto, born and raised in Fresno California, is the author of ten poetry collections for adults, most notably NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His recollections LIVING UP THE STREET received a Before Columbus Foundation 1985 AMERICAN BOOK AWARD. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including The Nation, Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Ontario Review and most frequently Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in Poets in Person. In 1999 he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He serves as Young People's Ambassador for the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). He lives in Berkeley, CA. For more information, please visit his website: http://www.garysoto.com/

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