LATINX KIDLIT BOOK FESTIVAL INC
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival, Inc is to foster a love of story and literacy as well as increase empathy and conversation among educators, students, and book lovers while uplifting the voices of Latinx kidlit book creators.
About This Cause
The Latinx KidLit Book Festival was created in 2020 during the COVID pandemic by members of Las Musas Books. Our aim was to connect Latinx authors and illustrators with readers and educators in classrooms around the globe. Since then, and with the help of countless volunteers, the festival has continued to foster a love of story and literacy as well as increase empathy and conversation among educators, students, and book lovers while uplifting the voices of Latinx kidlit book creators. The Latinx Kidlit Book Festival is a FREE virtual celebration of Latinx KidLit authors, illustrators, and books for all students, educators and book lovers around the globe. The Festival offers a combination of educational materials and virtual literary content in the form of interactive panels, craft sessions and illustrator draw-offs with best-selling and award-winning Latinx authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, comic books and poetry. The sessions are geared toward all schools, educators, students and book lovers, not just those identifying as Latinx. Everyone is welcome! The Latinx Kidlit Book Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. 2024 Annual Report: Our festival celebrated its fifth year in 2024! It’s been a year of wonderful growth, thanks to the continued support from educators, book creators, sponsors, community partners, donors, leadership team and volunteers. In 2024, the festival celebrated a few exciting events: Library of Congress Award We’re incredibly honored to have received the 2024 Library of Congress Emerging Strategies Honoree Award along with five other literacy initiatives. NCTE Hero Award The LKBF was the recipient of the 2024 Hero Award from the Black, Latinx, and American Indian Caucuses of NCTE which honors and celebrates contributions and commitments to our communities. School Visits Fund Receives Support from Estée Lauder & the Arizona Humanities This year our School Visit Fund program received new grants from the Estée Lauder’s WRITING CHANGE Initiative (established with Amanda Gorman) and the Arizona Humanities to bring more Latinx creatives into schools. These organizations join Hachette Book Group as supporters of our Spring 2025 semester! The Inaugural Storytellers Conference In 2024, the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival debuted a new, in-person event for aspiring and early-career Latinx authors and illustrators of books for all ages with the goal to increase the number of traditionally published diverse stories. The LKBF Latinx Storytellers Conference was held in September at Scholastic headquarters in New York City. The two-day event featured masterclasses and professional development sessions and provided attendees with access to hard-to-reach industry professionals such as publishers, editors, and literary agents. Educator Outreach This year we brought the festival to TLA in San Antonio, ALA’s Annual Conference in San Diego, CA, the Utah Council of Teachers of English Conference, the California Association of Teachers of English, the Arizona English Teachers Association Conference, and the NCTE Annual Convention in Boston, MA. We were also graciously invited to present virtually for the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts and the Maryland/Delaware Annual Library Conference. We met with thousands of teachers, librarians and advocates for children, sharing our mission and inviting them to bring our unique programing and educational content into their spaces. Future Plans As the festival continues to work towards sustainable growth and expanded reach, we hope to: increase the festival’s funding through donations, fundraising and grants, increase funding for our school visits program, develop metrics to assess the impact of LKBF programming on students, educators and authors/illustrators, continue to build and diversify our board of directors, pay festival honorariums to participating Latinx authors and illustrators to recognize the value of their shared skills, time, and knowledge increase our outreach activities to connect with more teachers and librarians and promote Latinx book creators in schools and libraries everywhere! As we close 2024, we are grateful for the dedication and support of our team and volunteers who have worked long hours to build an organization that celebrates Latinx voices and inspires kids of all backgrounds through the power of story. We are equally grateful for the contributions of our sponsors, community partners and donors who have invested their resources to amplify LKBF’s mission. Future Plans