Festival History

One of the oldest traditions of the School of Library and Information Science is the annual Festival of Books for Young People.  Held each fall, the daylong program attracts a statewide audience of teachers, librarians, and students of children’s literature.

The first festival was held in 1969, when the School was only two years old.  Professor Louane (Jerry) Newsome was the founder and guiding light of the early festivals.  Even after her retirement in 1973, Mrs. Newsome participated for seven more years as a storyteller at the luncheon.

Early Festivals featured talks and workshops exploring ideas and techniques for sharing books with children.  In 1974 the Festivals expanded in scope, by presenting nationally known authors and illustrators, with one of them featured each year as the Newsome Lecturer.  A separate Friday evening Newsome Lecture continued for several years before being incorporated into the Saturday program.  The first Newsome Lecture was given by Madeleine L’Engle in 1974.  She returned to Iowa in 1988 to highlight the 20th Festival.  Fourteen other Newberry and Caldecott Award winners have spoken at the Festival:  Avi, Marcia Brown, Betsy Byars, Kate Di Camillo, Russell Freedman, Jean Craighead George, Kevin Henkes, E.L. Konigsburg, Lois Lowry, Patricia MacLachlan, Robin McKinley, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Allen Say, and Nancy Willard.

Each year the Festival is organized around a theme, such as Life Stories, A Sense of Place, Bringing History to Life, Reading for the Fun of It.  In addition to three speakers, the Festival features a booktalk session, and an extensive exhibit of new books.

2006 Presenters