Tag Archives: follett lecture

Mark Your Calendar: Spring events with BCLC

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Spring is here! And while it may be the cold and drizzly version at the moment, the leaves and flowers phase is just around the corner, right? (RIGHT???)

As we await the outdoor blooms, there are lots of interesting things popping up around the Butler Center and beyond to keep us busy in the meantime.

Butler Scholarship

Are you a DU SOIS student from an underrepresented group in librarianship? Studying youth literature? Committed to serving the kids in your community or school library? Applications are being accepted for the Butler Youth Services Scholarship until May 29, 2026. For more information, head to the BCLC website or contact us at butler@dom.edu.

A Chat with Donna Seaman

Join us as the DU English Department and Butler Children’s Literature Center welcome Donna Seaman, Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor for Booklist, for a talk about and readings from her memoir, River of Books: A Life in Reading. Seaman will discuss her work for Booklist and the American Library Association, books and book reviews, and anything else that arises in the Q&A portion of the program.

About Donna Seaman:

Donna Seaman is Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor for Booklist, published in Chicago by the American Library Association. A recipient of the Louis Shores Award for Excellence in Book Reviewing and the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, Seaman is on the Content Leadership Team for the American Writers Museum and an adjunct creative writing professor at Northwestern University. Seaman’s author interviews are collected in Writers on the Air: Conversations about Books and she is the author of Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists and River of Books: A Life in Reading. 

Register here to join us (in person or via Zoom). Dominican students and alumni receive first consideration for admission.

2026 Butler/Follett Lecture

Dominican’s School of Information Studies and Butler Children’s Literature Center are thrilled to welcome Dr. Lorena Camargo Gonzalez for a combined Butler/Follett Lecture: “From Abuela’s Stories to Tomorrow’s Shelves: Latinx Children’s Literature Across Time” 

Dr. Camargo Gonzalez will examine the historical and cultural trajectories of Latinx children’s literature, beginning with intergenerational oral traditions and moving through key publishing milestones to contemporary movements for representation and equity. By analyzing themes of identity, language, diaspora, and activism, this lecture highlights both the progress made and the ongoing challenges shaping the field’s future. 

*Registration for this event opens March 16, 2026.

  • Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 
  • Time: 6:00 p.m. with a dessert reception to follow
  • Location: Dominican University, Chicago Campus (Pilsen)
    1805 S Paulina St 
    Chicago, IL 60608
    *Street parking available on 17th, 18th, and 19th Streets

About Dr. Lorena Camargo Gonzalez

Lorena Camargo Gonzalez [she/her/ella] is an Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Studies in Education and Gender Equity at Sacramento State University and the 2025-2026 Follett Chair for the School of Information Studies at Dominican University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA with a focus on Race and Ethnic Studies and is a proud first-generation college graduate and immigrant. Her interdisciplinary research centers on Latinx children’s literature, particularly questions of representation, identity, and storytelling. She also examines the role of Latinx librarian activism in advancing racial justice and supporting culturally sustaining learning spaces for young readers. Her work appears in publications such as the Handbook of Latinos and Education, Urban Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.   

Bologna Children’s Book Fair

In mid-April, join us (via social media) as SOIS and the BCLC explore the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and beyond. Students will engage with publishing and youth literature experts from around the world to celebrate the newest and best in global youth literature.

Follow the adventure on:

Butler Children’s Literature Center

                                                                           

    


butlercenterdominican

2021 Follett-Butler Lecture

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Dominican University’s School of Information Studies and Butler Children’s Literature Center present: 

Fantastic Black Girlhoods:
A Conversation with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and Renée Watson

Join the School of Information Studies and the Butler Children’s Literature Center in conversation with children’s literature scholar and critic Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and award-winning author Renée Watson as they discuss the current moment in literature for black youth and how it fits into the larger body of youth literature. Topics explored include the adultification of black youth, representations of black joy, and diversity within diversity. They will also share their hopes and recommendations for the teachers and librarians sharing books with, and building collections for, all young people.

Monday, March 29, 2021 — 6p.m.
Presented Online
Registration opens in February

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas studies how people of color are portrayed, or not portrayed, in children’s and young adult literature, and how those portrayals shape our culture. She regularly reviews children’s books featuring diverse heroes and heroines, teens and tweens caught between cultures, and kids from the margins for the Los Angeles Times. She has a particular interest in young adult fantasy literature and fan culture. A former English and language arts teacher, Thomas also explores how teachers handle traumatic historical events, such as slavery, when teaching literature. Her most recent academic book is The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games (NYU Press, Spring 2019).

Renée Watson is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, and activist. Her young adult novel, Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury, 2017) received a Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor. Her poetry and fiction often centers around the lived experiences of black girls and women, and explores themes of home, identity, and the intersections of race, class, and gender. Renée served as Founder and Executive Director of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts, from 2016-2019.

Renée grew up in Portland, Oregon and currently lives in New York City.

* Renée Watson photo credit: Shawnte Sims