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Volume 3, Issue 4                                    University of Houston

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Arte Público Press will offer Hispanic children's 
book award

By Ken Fountain
Breaking News Staff

Arte Público Press, the UH-based publisher of Hispanic literature, has teamed up with El Paso Energy to create the "Reading with Energy" Hispanic Children's Book Award to address "the need for more culturally relevant, bilingual reading materials for Hispanic children readers."

This year will mark the first time the award is granted, according to Mónica Parle, marketing coordinator for Arte Público Press. Although the program is new, more than 1,000 authors made submissions before the Dec. 31 deadline, Parle said.

However, she said she anticipates that many more will apply next year.

A committee of bilingual educators, authors and reading specialists will choose a winner from this year's submissions in late January. The winner will receive a $5,000 advance against royalties and will have the book published by Piñata Books, the publisher's imprint for young readers.

The completed book will be presented at the Arte Público Gala Fundraiser.

Arte Público Press was founded in 1979 by Nicolás Kanellos, a professor of Hispanic literature at UH, to provide a forum for Hispanic literature. Piñata Books was created in 1994 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation to provide children's books that accurately portray U.S. Hispanic culture.
 

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