Words Take Wing

An Evening with Aida Salazar

Join Sacramento Public Library and UC Davis School of Education for Words Take Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children's Literature, an evening with award-winning author Aida Salazar. This annual celebration, held each February, gives our communities the opportunity to hear about the personal journeys and creative processes of acclaimed authors and illustrators of diverse children’s literature whose stories about Native American heritage, Asian culture, African American culture, and Latino identity, among many others, allow them to explore a wide range of perspectives and worldviews. This event will take place on Zoom on February 21 at 6 p.m.

According to UC Davis School of Education, "Words Take Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children’s Literature (WTW) celebrates children’s literature and values its capacity to inform, inspire, and empower by giving voice and forum to the creators of children’s books. The WTW committee endeavors to highlight notable authors and illustrators of diverse backgrounds and to make the program available to those children with whom the experience might strongly resonate."

 
About the Author
Author, arts activist, and translator Aida Salazar​ was born in Mexico and grew up in a family of seven children in Southeast Los Angeles. Her fiction and nonfiction writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice. Salazar is the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade verse novels, The Moon Within (International Latino Book Award Winner) and Land of the Cranes (Américas Award, California Library Association Beatty Award, Northern CA Book Award, NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor, Jane Addams Peace Honor, International Latino Book Award Honor). Her most recent novel A Seed in the Sun was released on October 25, 2022. Her other works include the picture book anthology, In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of Immigrants of Color; the forthcoming bio picture book Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter (Spring, 2023) and the anthology Calling the Moon: Period Stories by BIPOC Authors (Spring, 2023). Aida is a founding member of LAS MUSAS – a Latinx kidlit author collective. Her story, "By the Light of the Moon," was adapted into a ballet production by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history. She lives with her family of artists in a teal house in Oakland, CA.

Photo credit: Lluvia Higuera

 

Books by Aida Salazar​ 

---