2nd Annual Children's Bilingual Book Festival

2^nd Annual Children’s Bilingual Book Festival
New Mexico Hispanic Cultural Center

2020 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE 

Saturday, April 25, 2020: 9 am - 5 pm

All activities are free and open to the public

Location1701 4th St. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

The Children's Bilingual Book Festival takes place at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) in April of each year and features K-6 books in Spanish and English and Native Languages in English. 

On Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, 2020, the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosts its second annual Children’s Bilingual Book Festival, the only one of its kind in the U.S. that features children’s books in Spanish and English and Native languages and English. The focus on Spanish-English and Native Language-English books and authors makes this festival particularly meaningful and vibrant, reflecting the identities of many children in New Mexico and the Southwest. We want to encourage children to see themselves in contemporary children’s literature as well as introduce a bilingual body of work to a wider audience.

9AM

The nationally syndicated THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, heard on KUNM, broadcasts from the festival, featuring young storytellers (Dine, Spanish and English) sponsored by REFORMA de Nuevo Mexico, Northwest New Mexico Arts Council and the Connie Gotsch Foundation.

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10AM

CONSTANZA POLLIER was born in Chile, grew up in Venezuela, and now lives in New Mexico. She has dedicated the last five years to publishing books in English and Spanish, including SACRED BLUE LAKE, THE WINGED MAN, HUELLA and EL NIÑO YOGUI.  All her books are about the tribes and traditional societies that interest her as well as relate to her own life and travels in many countries. Each book has a glossary to help readers more deeply understand the Tiwa, Yanomamis, Chiloe or Yogui (India) communities.  SACRED BLUE LAKE received Honorable Mention for Children’s Literature at the 2017 Miami Book Festival.

11AM

CATHY CAMPER is the author of LOWRIDERS IN SPACE, LOWRIDERS TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and LOWRIDERS BLAST FROM THE PAST, with a fourth volume in the works, all from Chronicle Books. She has a forthcoming picture book, TEN WAYS TO HEAR SNOW (Dial/Penguin), and also wrote BUGS BEFORE TIME: PREHISTORIC INSECTS AND THEIR RELATIVES (Simon & Schuster). Her zines include Sugar Needle and The Lou Reeder, and she’s a founding member of the Portland Women of Color zine collective. A graduate of VONA/Voices writing workshops for people of color in Berkeley, California, Cathy works as a librarian in Portland, Oregon, where she does outreach to schools and kids in grades K-12.

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NOON
LUCERITO!  Stanley and Yolanda Lucero play and teach traditional Spanish songs and games for children that involve movement and rhythm. The songs, passed down to them from their grandparents, reflect and reinforce Hispanic/Latino cultural community and family values.

1PM
ALEXANDRA DIAZ is the award-winning children's book author of THE ONLY ROAD/EL ÚNICO DESTINO (Simon & Schuster), which received the Pura Belpré Honor and Américas Award among others. Its sequel, THE CROSSROADS/LA ENCRUCIJADA (Simon & Schuster), has been awarded the Parents' Choice Silver Honor and 1st place in the International Latino Book Awards. Her next book, SANTIAGO'S ROAD HOME is forthcoming, also from Simon & Schuster).  A native Spanish speaker, Alexandra translates her books along with her mother.

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2PM
LINDA BOYDEN is an author/illustrator/storyteller/recovering-teacher/poet. She has written six and illustrated five picture books. Her first teen novel will be coming out in 2020 entitled, TWITCH from Native Realities Press. She belongs to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and Writers Forum of Redding CA. “2020 is my ninth year of writing a poem a day. I write. I teach. I color in or outside the
lines."

4PM 
POESÍA ERES TÚ features elementary school contest winners reciting memorized, dramatized poems in Spanish. Poesía eres tú has strengthened the learning and teaching of Spanish language and culture among elementary school students for nearly twenty years. Each spring, organizers invite elementary school students from grades first through fifth to the NHCC to compete. The students come from public, private, and charter schools, and are recognized alongside teachers, family, and friends.

Festival Partners: NHCC, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Bookworks, the Public Library (City of Albuquerque), University of New Mexico Press, Dual Language Education of NM (DLENM), REFORMA de Nuevo Mexico, Northwest New Mexico Arts Council with funding from the City of Albuquerque and the National Endowment for the Arts.