Girls Quest Sponsors Children's Cultural Book Fair featuring authors Tonya Bolden, Bryan Collier & Rita-Williams Smith

Girls Quest is sponsoring a Children’s Cultural Book Fair, in partnership with Society Coffee and Kids’ Cultural Books from 2-5 PM at Society Coffee, 2104 Frederick Douglas Boulevard, New York, NY. The event will also include book signings from three celebrated and critically-acclaimed children’s authors and illustrators: Tonya Bolden, author of 33 Things Every Girl Should Know; Bryan Collier, author of Rosa; and Rita Williams Garcia, author of No Laughter Here. The event is open to the public.

Girls Quest is a 70-year old youth development organization whose mission is to nurture girls from low-income families in New York to help them achieve their full potential and become active members of their communities by building academic and social competence. Society Coffee, a new hip, upscale espresso and lounge bar owned by Karl Franz Williams, was recently featured in February 2006 issue of Black Enterprise. Kids Cultural Books, a sister non-profit organization of Black Books Galore, is supplying books, with a percentage of proceeds donated to Girls Quest.
Tonya Bolden’s published works include histories, novels, anthologies, how-to and self-help books, as well as articles, reviews and reference material for adults and youth. Her books have been praised in The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, and Parade and won recognition from the American Library Association, Junior Library Guild, Black Expressions Book Club, and the New York Public Library. Her latest work is Maritcha.
Bryan Collier, author and illustrator of Uptown, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award. Collier is also the illustrator of a number of award-winning books, including A Freedom River, Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Visiting Langston, all winners of the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration. Martin’s Big Words was also designated a Caldecott Honor Book in 2002. The Chicago Sun-Times has called Collier’s art “breathtakingly beautiful, and is heralded as "A new favorite" by The New York Times.

Winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of four distinguished novels for young adults: Every Time a Rainbow Dies, Fast Talk on a Slow Track (ALA Best Books for Young Adults), Blue Tights, and Like Sisters on the Homefront. The latter was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a best book of the year by ALA Booklist, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly.