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FAMILY-FRIENDLY OFFICIAL PANELS
A Letter to a Child
The World Is
Ours to Cherish
By Mary Annaïse Heglar Illustrated by Vivian Mineker
9:30 am
10:45 am
12:00 pm
1:30 pm
2:45 pm
KidNote:
Master Storyteller
Kate DiCamillo
GALLOWAY SANCTUARY
presented by The Eudora Welty
Foundation
Ezra Jack Keats
Award-Winners
& Honorees
GALLOWAY FELLOWSHIP
CENTER
presented by Fay B. Kaigler
Children’s Book Festival;
University of Southern
Mississippi de Grummond
Children’s Literature Collection
Middle Grade
Dreams
STATE CAPITOL 103
presented by Terry Hunt
& Dick Molpus;
Beard + Riser Architects
Picture This!
GALLOWAY FELLOWSHIP
CENTER
presented by Sara & Bill Ray;
The Ragland Company
Mississippi Youth
Poetry Project
STATE CAPITOL 201 A
presented by Mississippi
Humanities Council;
Mississippi State University
Department of English
Children’s literature expert Ellen Hunter
Ruffin speaks with two-time Newbery
Medalist Kate DiCamillo about the
author’s latest story of a plucky young girl,
her quirky family, and a not-so-scary ghost
that longs for adventure.
• Ellen Hunter Ruffin (moderator)
• Kate DiCamillo – Ferris
Picture book authors and illustrators honor
and delight in family, food, and nature in
this panel of 2024 Ezra Jack Keats Award-
winners and honorees.
• Ellen Hunter Ruffin (moderator)
• Anne Wynter – Nell Plants a Tree
• Sarah Gonzales – The Only Way to Make Bread
• Kim Rogers – Just Like Grandma
• Helena Ku Rhee – Sora’s Seashells
Four middle grade authors celebrate
determined young characters who defy
odds, hunt for treasure, and find magic.
• Sami Thomason-Fyke (moderator)
• Taryn Souders – The Mystery of the
Radcliffe Riddle
• Angie Thomas – Nic Blake and the
Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy
• Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn –
Exclusion and the Chinese American Story
• Julian Randall – The Chainbreakers
Families are invited to join the authors
and illustrators of picture books for an
incredible learning experience about
animals, music, and nature.
• Sarah Frances Hardy (moderator) –
One Mississippi
• Mary Annaïse Heglar – The World is Ours
to Cherish: A Letter to a Child
• Heather C. Morris – Trunk Goes Thunk!:
A Woodland Tale of Opposites
• Allen R. Wells – Danté Plays His Blues
• Marshall Ramsey – Saving Sam!:
A Banjo the Dog Story
K-12 student poets from across the state
share their award-winning poems in this
celebratory panel hosted by Mississippi
Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce.
• Catherine Pierce (moderator) –
Danger Days: Poems
• Various winners from around the state