Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee
The Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee supports creators of children’s and young adult books, the professionals who help bring them to publication, and librarians and other educators who provide access to literature for young people. The CYAB Committee’s work aligns with PEN America’s mission of promoting freedom of speech and literary expression, as well as the unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, while discouraging hate speech and disinformation. By fostering collegiality among writers and uplifting a broad range of voices, the CYAB Committee strives to ensure that speech remains free, that ideas are not censored, and that everyone’s stories are heard. The committee is chaired by Paul Zelinsky and Krystyna Poray Goddu and has monthly meetings which include passionate give-and-take conversations about topics that affect writers of children’s literature.
The CYAB Committee is proud to have been part of PEN America for nearly half of the organization’s 100-year history. The Committee created this short video, produced by Julie Gribble of KidLit TV, in the summer of 2022, to accompany PEN’s centenary celebration. In the video, we share our guiding principles and efforts on behalf of writers and readers of books for young people.
The CYAB Committee co-curates annual events at the PEN World Voices Festival. The committee hosted a panel at the 2023 World Voices Festival entitled “Writing Truthfully For Kids About Today’s Issues.” Moderated by CYAB Member Padma Venkatraman, the panel was made up of authors Zetta Elliott, Kyle Lukoff, Ruta Sepetys and Traci Sorell. They discussed the challenges of writing with honesty and sensitivity for young readers in today’s challenging climate of book bans and educational gag orders. Read committee member Lyn Miller-Lachman’s detailed report of the discussion here.
The committee works with the Coalition Against Censorship to co-sign letters and defend writers whose books are challenged in this way. Books written for children and young adults are among the most frequently contested by groups wishing to remove them from libraries and school curricula. Committee outreach to underserved communities includes its sponsorship of author visits to the Martin Luther King Jr. School for Science and Technology in New Orleans and to youth detention centers in the New York area in cooperation with Literacy for Incarcerated Teens (LIT).
The committee sponsors the annual Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Grant, made possible by a generous contribution from PEN America member Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, a prolific author of children’s literature. The grant is awarded to an established writer of middle-grade or young adult fiction for a novel-in-progress.
From 2021-2022, the committee hosted the PEN Pals interview series, which gives voice to the challenged creators of books for children and young adults through an exchange of nuanced conversations that illuminate today’s issues. We are eager to receive information about topics that affect writers of children’s literature so that we can respond to them promptly.
If you would like to join the committee or receive news related to Children’s and Young Adult Books and Authors, write to [email protected] for more information.
Announcements
Celebrating Robie Harris (1940-2024)
The PEN America Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee mourns the loss of Robie Harris, a founding member and passionate advocate of free expression and honesty in children’s books. Read our tribute >>
Member Lyn Miller-Lachman receives 2023 LA Times Book Prize
Congratulations to Committee Member Lyn Miller-Lachman for receiving the 2023 LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature for her YA novel Torch, about three teenagers in 1969 Communist Czechoslovakia! Read what Kirkus Reviews had to say about Torch in its starred review.