Established in 1998, the lecture was named to honor Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children’s book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 65 picture books, including such classic works as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (Harper, 1962) and William’s Doll (Harper, 1972). The work of Charlotte Zolotow (June 26, 1915-November 19, 2013) offered even the youngest children an unsentimental but compassionate view of topics like anger, envy and death. Authentic, sensual, kind, and sometimes funny, she never condescended to the emotional lives of her young readers, nor did she diminish the problems, large and small, they faced.
Ms. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933-36 where she studied with Professor Helen C. White. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a library of the School of Education of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, administers the event which each year brings a distinguished children’s book author or illustrator to the campus to deliver a free public lecture.
2023 Zolotow Lecture: SAVE THE DATE!
Angeline Boulley will deliver the 2023 Charlotte Zolotow Lecture on Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. (Central), at Union South on the UW-Madison campus.
Ms. Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her highly regarded debut novel, The Firekeeper’s Daughter, was a CCBC Choices title, a New York Times #1 Bestseller, and received many other accolades. Her next novel, Warrior Girl Unearthed, is due out in May, 2023.
More details about this event will be available in summer, 2023.