The Second Annual Beautiful Blackbird Children's Book Festival
The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine is proud to partner with the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival again this year! The Festival launches August 2nd, with a new website, new books, and new activities. Like last year, most of the Festival will be virtual, enabling folks from all over the world to take part and celebrate the voices, artistry, and impact of children’s literature created by and featuring Black people. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine will host three writing workshops with The Telling Room as part of the Festival.
The Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival is organized by Indigo Arts Alliance, a Black-led arts organization cultivating and celebrating a multiracial approach to the rich intersections of citizenship, community-building, and creativity. The Festival was launched in 2020, to celebrate Ashley Bryan’s legacy and the contributions of children’s book creators of the African Diaspora. Through children’s literature, the Festival entertains, engages, educates, and empowers readers of all ages and helps to build the home library of children by giving away picture and chapter books. The Festival is presented in partnership with I’m Your Neighbor Books and Diverse BookFinder.
Last year, the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival had an incredible and profound impact. As the world navigated and coped with the Covid-19 pandemic, Indigo Arts Alliance found a way to expand the impact of the Festival and reach even more participants in a safe way, by making everything virtual and accessible. The Children’s Museum & Theatre was closed because of the pandemic and the process of building our new home on Thompson’s Point. Our experience in the 2020 Festival inspired the Ashley Bryan’s Beautiful Blackbird Exhibit on the second floor in the Lunder Arts and Culture Gallery. Indigo Arts Alliance’s efforts to support and promote black authors and illustrators in storytelling for children planted the seed for our collaborative work on the exhibit. We are incredibly grateful to continue the partnership this year in the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival.
Check out this video to learn more about last year’s Festival and the extraordinary impact it had on the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine.
Daniel Minter, Artist Director and Founder of Indigo Arts Alliance, and Artist and Illustrator Ashley Bryan
This year the Festival is featuring seven books including: Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry by Ashley Bryan; Joseph’s Big Ride by Terry Farish and illustrated by Ken Daley, So Tall Within; Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt and illustrated by Daniel Minter; Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James; Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia; The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Illustrated by Shane W. Evans; and Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrated by Luisa Uribe. All these books are by Black authors and artists.
Each week, starting August 2nd a new book will be featured with a read along video, Make/Learn/Do video, and creative assignment. These activities are opportunities to engage deeply and creatively with each book.
This year we will be hosting three in-person workshops in collaboration with The Beautiful Blackbird Festival and The Telling Room. The workshops will take place at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, and be directly inspired by the featured book of the week.
Inspired by "The ABCs of African American Poetry" by Ashley Bryan
August 4th: 4:30pm-5:45pm, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
Age Range: 7-10
Writing Workshop: Character Sheet
Inspired by "Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
September 1st, 4:30pm-5:45pm, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
Age range: 10-16
Writing Workshop: Object Writing-The Poetry of Things
Inspired by "The Red Pencil" by Andrea Davis Pinkney
September 8th: 4:30pm-5:45pm, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
Age range: 10-16
Register for a workshop here! The workshops will take place in our very own Ashley Bryan’s Beautiful Blackbird Exhibit, housed in the Lunder Arts and Culture Gallery. We are so excited to collaborate again with longtime partners Indigo Arts Alliance and The Telling Room for these workshops for the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival. As we continue aging our exhibits and programming up in this new building, we are thrilled to offer activities aimed at tweens and teens. We are devoted to children’s continued development and learning. Through the Festival we can help foster language and literacy skills and bridge the gap between Black and African American children and stories that reflect their own life experiences. So get excited for the 2021 Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival! Check out the Beautiful Blackbird Festival Website for all the books, activities, and more, and we hope to see you in the Beautiful Blackbird Exhibit very soon!
Sign up for a writing workshop with The Telling Room and the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine.
Make sure to follow along all the content, updates, and activities on our social media channels:
www.instagram.com/childrensmuseum_theatreofmaine/
Support the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival and Indigo Arts Alliance.