North Columbus News

The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) will present the inaugural Excellence in Children’s Literature: Newbery Award Symposium this fall. The event is scheduled for November 15, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Ohio Union.

The symposium will highlight five Black authors who have received the John Newbery Award, the highest honor in U.S. children's literature. It will feature a panel discussion with these honorees, keynote presentations by authors, and breakout sessions on various literacy and education topics.

A significant focus of the symposium will be EHE's long-standing connection with African American children's literature. Notably, Virginia Hamilton, the first Black author to win the Newbery Medal, attended Ohio State.

Hamilton was born in Yellow Springs in 1934 and transferred to Ohio State from Antioch College in 1956 to study literature and creative writing. She authored 41 books, including “M.C. Higgins, the Great,” which earned her the Newbery Medal in 1975. Hamilton also received numerous other accolades throughout her career, such as the Coretta Scott King Book Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Despite achieving international fame and living in New York City for several years, Hamilton remained connected to her Ohio roots. Her son Jaime Adoff recalled their family home in Yellow Springs: “Her mother’s house is right up the field from our house [in Yellow Springs] that we grew up in,” said Adoff, an author and musician himself.

Hamilton moved to New York in 1958 to enter publishing and met poet Arnold Adoff there. They married and later returned to Yellow Springs when Jaime was two years old. "Having all the family around and raising a family there was just great," he said.

Adoff shared how his parents' dedication influenced him: “My mom went into her office... She would go in early in the morning with a cup of coffee and come out hours later with pages of writing.” This environment fostered creativity within their household.

Initially pursuing music, Jaime Adoff eventually followed his mother into writing fiction after returning to Yellow Springs. He sought advice from his mother about becoming a writer: “Basically, she just said, ‘Jaime, you have to dig deep.’”

Adoff has since authored several acclaimed young adult novels. His upcoming book “Violet and the Frost King” is based on an unpublished manuscript by his mother found after both parents passed away—Hamilton died in 2002; Arnold Adoff died in 2023.

“Violet and the Frost King” along with Jaime’s picture book “Rock N Roll Dad” are set for publication by Christy Ottaviano Books/Little Brown in 2026. Reflecting on collaborating posthumously with his mother, he remarked: “It’s an absolutely beautiful book.”

Jaime emphasized that his mother's works address universal themes: "Her characters... happened to be African American... but her stories transcended all that."

For more information or registration details about Excellence in Children’s Literature: Newbery Award Symposium, visit the event’s website.

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