ABC/CBC Silent Art Auction at BookExpo to Honor Ashley Bryan

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The American Booksellers Association’s ABC Children’s Group and the Children’s Book Council (CBC) have announced that beloved children’s book author and illustrator Ashley Bryan will be the honoree for this year’s Silent Art Auction at BookExpo, to be held from 5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Javits South Concourse on May 30, 2018. The Silent Art Auction will benefit two charities: American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) and Every Child a Reader.  

Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan

“It is a true honor to be chosen by ABC and CBC for this recognition,” said Bryan, whose picture book Freedom Over Me (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books) was recently named a Newbery honoree. “The work they do, in so many ways, with the charities and programs that they support, that ultimately bring books to children, is wonderful. I’m glad to do what I can to help.”

Preceding the Silent Art Auction will be the 2018 Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards ceremony. Co-hosts Selina Aiko and Sean Qualls will announce this year’s winning books.

Launched in 2008, the Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards is the only national book awards where voting is open only to kids and teens. Voting will be open online from March 1 to May 6. 

The announcement asking for artwork donations will go out industry-wide from CBC on Thursday, February 15, and Susannah Richards, professor and children’s literature advocate, has signed on to organize the auction again this year.

ABA Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger and Shaina Birkhead, programming and strategic partnerships director of CBC and Every Child a Reader, commented, “Now more than ever, events supporting free speech, great art, and children’s literacy are vital. We are thrilled that Ashley Bryan will be this year’s honoree!”

Bryan is the author and illustrator of numerous titles from Atheneum Books for Young Readers, including Beautiful Blackbird; Let It Shine; and Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum, as well as Sail Away, featuring poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Bryan. He has been the recipient of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and more.

Registration for BookExpo 2018 is now open. The annual trade show, which will feature a variety of programming for ABA members, will be held from Wednesday, May 30, through Friday, June 1, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

To receive a free badge to the show, booksellers at ABA member stores will need to provide an ABA member ID number during the BookExpo registration process. Booksellers who don’t know their ABA member ID number should send a request with their name, title, and store name to [email protected] or call (800) 637-0037, ext. 7536.

Thanks to a significant financial commitment from Reed Exhibitions, ABA member booksellers can reserve rooms at the 2018 Hotel ABA — The New Yorker, a Wyndham Hotel — at a rate of $200 per night, including all taxes and fees (a $33 per night added value). The ABA member hotel rate is available for the nights of Sunday, May 27, through Sunday, June 3, 2018; however, the room block is limited and reservations will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The New Yorker Hotel is located at 481 Eighth Avenue in New York City, between 34th and 35th Streets. To access Hotel ABA reservation information, booksellers will need a BookWeb username and password (e-mail [email protected] for login details). The deadline to get this rate is May 14 or when the block sells out, whichever comes first.

Watch Bookselling This Week for announcements about ABA programming at BookExpo. General questions about registration should be addressed to the BookExpo customer service team at [email protected].