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Jason Reynolds has been named the 2024 recipient of annual the St. Katharine Drexel Award given by the Catholic Library Association (CLA) which recognizes individuals or organizations who have, through their works, made an “outstanding contribution to the growth of high school librarianship” The Award ceremony will take place during the CLA Virtual Spring Conference being held on Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26, 2024.

Jason Reynolds is the best-selling author of numerous award-winning works spanning various genres, including but not limited to: picture books, early readers, graphic novels, YA Novels, poetry, short stories, and podcasts. His gift with words, and his sensitive reflections on relationships of every kind, allows readers to see the world through the eyes of his fully-fleshed characters who are, by turns, silly, exuberant, anxious, thoughtful, and brilliant. Readers feel like they are running on the team with the kids in his Track Series; exiting school with the kids in Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks; exploring summer adventures with the family in As Brave as You, figuring out first jobs along with The Boy in the Black Suit; and thinking through the tough questions as we ride in the elevator Long Way Down. Reynolds’ generous, collaborative spirit with other authors and illustrators, allow his words and ideas to resonate with readers/thinkers of every age. We are dancing in the Schomburg Library when There Was a Party for Langston (Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey), we are exploring the apartment building along with Stuntboy (Illustrated by Raúl the Third), we are teasing out the “unwelcome truths” in All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), and feeling the struggle to breathe in Ain’t Burned All the Bright (with artwork by Jason Griffin). In addition to being the recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds has served as the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. More about the Author: https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com

The Catholic Library Association’s The St. Katharine Drexel Award was established in 1966 under the title Certificate of Merit and renamed in 2002. Presented by the Children and High School/Young Adult Library Services Section through the St. Katharine Drexel Award Committee, the St. Katharine Drexel Award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the growth of high school librarianship.