Early Deadline is March 7 for Annual Children's Literature Conference

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 27, 2003) – The early registration deadline for Tennessee Tech University’s Annual Literature Conference for children is Friday, March 7.

Sponsored by the College of Education and Rural Education Research and Service Consortium, the event is set for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, and registration will remain open through the morning of the conference.

"Early registration is $15, and late and at-the-door registration is $25. All registration includes the price of lunch and admission to exhibits and autograph sessions," said Connie Nichols, an organizer of the event. "We expect lots of exhibitors with books and related items for sale at discounted costs."

The theme of this year’s conference is "Teaching Literature in a Diverse, Technological Society." It features award-winning author and illustrator Chris Soentpiet (pronounced soon-peet), adopted at age eight from South Korea by an American family in Oregon, and Mike Shoulders, author of V is for Volunteer: A Tennessee Alphabet, who uses rap music to teach children about the importance of reading.

Other presenters include Calvin Dickinson, Jennie Ivey and Lisa Rand, who co-authored Tennessee Tales the Textbooks Don’t Tell, and Doris Sevier, a former Cookeville Junior High English teacher from Livingston who self-published the series of children’s stories she wrote.

Topics of special interest sessions will address literature for Hispanic children, multiethnic picture books, technology and literature, book discussion groups, bibliography and literature and the standards.

For more information about the conference, call Nichols at 931/372-3791.

--Tracey LeFevre

This information posted 28 February 2003