The 2021
The \;featured presenters (pictured from left to right) will include: \;
\nSalina Yoon&nbs p\;was born as Yoon\, Ah in Busan\, Korea in 1972 and was raised in a smal l rural town. She came to the United States in 1976 at the age of 4\, whic h was when she was given her current name "Salina". Today\, she is an awar d-winning author\, illustrator and format designer of innovative novelty b ooks for young children\, specializing in formats that are unique and inte ractive. Stories such as \;Duck\, Duck\, Porcupine!\, Bea r's Big Day\, Stormy Night\, Penguin and Pinecone\, and FOUND have been highlighted in "best of lists" by Bank Street College of Educa tion\, New York Public Library\, and Amazon. In 2018\, she won a Geisel Ho nor Book for My Kite is Stuck! and Other Stories. In 2016\, D uck\, Duck\, Porcupine!\, \; She works out of her home studio and lives in San Diego\, California with her husband\, artist Chris Polentz\, and their two sons. \;
\nK at Zhang spent most of her childhood tramping through a world woven&nb sp\;from her favorite stories and games. When she and her best friend were n't riding magic horses or talking to trees\, they were writing adaptation s of plays for their stuffed animals. \;By the age of twelve\, Kat had started her first novel and begun plans for her life as a Real Live Autho r. Said plans didn't come into fruition until seven years later\, when her agent sold her young adult trilogy\, The Hybrid Chronicles\, to HarperCollins. The series\, about a parallel universe where everyone is bo rn with two souls\, concluded in 2014. She \;has also published two mi ddle grade novels with Simon &\; Schuster: \;The Emperor's Ridd le\, is about hidden treasure\, lost aunts\, and China and The Me mory of Forgotten Things\, is about grief\, solar eclipses\, and misf it children. She also has two picture books and is working on a series of books with Baobab Studios and Penguin Random House about the Magic Paintbr ush legends. Her book Amy Wu &\; the Patchwork Dragon \;is the selection for the 2021 \;Jumpstart Read for the Record
\nA native of Japan\ , \;Kuniko Yamamoto \;received her Bachelor of Psychology from Otani University of Ky oto\, Japan in 1983. Started performing professionally in her hometown of Osaka where she grew up studying traditional dance\, music and theater. Sh e has received national exposure performing Japanese Storytelling at the S ilk Road International Exposition and on Kansai National TV in 1985. The f ollowing year Kuniko traveled to the United States to study with \;Ton y Montanaro\, highly respected mime and actor. Then three years after bega n touring with \;Leland Faulkner Light Theater \;where she helped present lavish stage illusions and brought ancient tales to life with shad ows and magic. For the next five years she has performed constantly in the aters\, schools\, colleges\, and festivals across the country. In 1992\, K uniko left the Faulkner Light Theater troupe to move to Florida. Married t o Jon LeClair\, a world-renowned magician whose books appear in magic shop s worldwide has been helping her add subtle magic and mystery to her very special act.
\nRuth Behar w as born in Havana\, Cuba and grew up in New York. A cultural anthropologis t and an author\, she explores the depth of the human experience in many g enres. She has lived in Spain and Mexico and returns often to Cuba to buil d bridges around culture and art. She has written eight books\, including the travel memoirs\, An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba and Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys. The 25th a nniversary edition of her classic work\, The Vulnerable Observer: Anth ropology that Breaks Your Heart\, will be published next year. Her bi lingual collection of poems can be found in Everything I Kept/Todo lo que guardé\;. Also an author of fiction for young readers\, Beh ar won the Pura Belpré\; Author Medal for her debut middle grade nov el\, \;Lucky Broken Girl. Her recent novel\, Letters from Cuba\, is a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and won an International Lati no Book Award. Her picture book\, Tí\;a Fortuna&rsquo\;s New Hom e\, a Cuban Sephardic story\, will be released in 2022. Behar is the recipient of a MacArthur &ldquo\;Genius&rdquo\; Grant and a Guggenheim Fel lowship\, and was named a &ldquo\;Great Immigrant&rdquo\; by the Carnegie Corporation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts &\; Scienc es and is a Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology at the Univ ersity of Michigan\, Ann Arbor. (In partnership with Miami Book Fair).&nbs p\;
\nDonna Barba Higuera g rew up in a tiny desert town in central California surrounded by agricultu ral and oil fields. As a child\, rather than dealing with the regular dust devils\, she preferred spending recess squirreled away in the janitor&rsq uo\;s closet with a good book. Her favorite hobbies were calling dial-a-st ory over and over again\, and sneaking into a restricted cemetery to weave her own spooky tales using the crumbling headstones as inspiration. \ ;​Donna's middle grade and picture books \;are about kids who f ind themselves in odd or scary \;situations.​ \;From langua ge to cultural differences in being biracial life can become&hellip\;compl icated. So \;like Donna\, \; \;characters \;tackle more th an just the bizarre things that happen to them in their lives. \;Donna lives in Washington State with her family\, three \;dogs and \;tw o \;frogs. (In partnership with Miami Book Fair). \;
\nRuth Behar and Donna Barba Higuera are just a few of the many other authors fro m around the world participating \;in Miami Book Fair 2021. \;They are so \;looking \;forward to sharing their work\, thoughts and n ew ideas with \;everyone in person and online. \;Please visit miamibookfair.com for more inform ation. \;
\n​The 2021 Conference on Children's Literature is generously funded by the Broward Public Library Foundation\, PNC Foundation\, and Children's Ser vices Council of Broward.
\nThis program is presented through co llaborations and partnerships with Broward County Library\, Broward Reads: The Campaign for Grade- Level Reading\, and Miami Boo k Fair.
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