Over the past weekend I travelled out to Las Vegas to attend the American Library Association Conference to receive the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent award for my illustration work in “When The Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc & the Creation of Hip Hop”… That’s a mouthful.
Either way, it was a great experience. I met a lot of great people including librarians, authors, illustrators and publishers. Meeting fellow award winners Kadir Nelson, Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nikki Grimes, Rita Williams-Garcia, Bryan Collier and Patricia McKissack were highlights. I had a chance to sit on a panel with them which was a very new experience for me considering how little public speaking I’ve done in the past.
As you can see in this video filmed by my uncle, I also gave an acceptance speech; something I was nervous about for the entire previous week. But once I was up, I think it went fairly well. I even got some laughs!
I also had a chance to sit down with my publisher and talk about some new books ideas which will hopefully be materializing soon. I also got to meet some employees of the publisher of my new project, “Lil Shaq”, which will be done sometime next year.
I’ll post a few of the articles written about myself, the book and the award below.
The Brown Bookshelf: Day 14: Theodore Taylor III
Washington Post: D.C. artist wins honors for children’s book about DJ Kool Herc
NPR: When The Beat Was Born: Hip-Hop’s Big Bang Becomes A Kid’s Book
VCUArts Communication Arts: Alumni, Teddy Taylor III, wins the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award
Roanoke Times: Roanoke native wins Coretta Scott King award honoring new talent in children’s illustration
Publisher’s Weekly: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Teaching For Change: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Granite Media: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Kirkus: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Booklist Online: When The Beat Was Born by Laban Carrick Hill