Join the Main Children's Center as author Renée Watson delivers the 23nd Effie Lee Morris Lecture on "The Miracle of Joy: How Stories Heal," in the San Francisco Public Library Main Library's Koret Auditorium on Thursday, September 5, 2019, at 6 pm. This is the first of two programs in the 2019 Effie Lee Morris Lecture series.

A book-signing will follow the lecture.

Renée Watson is the recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award and a Newbery Honor award for her young adult novel Piecing Me Together. Her other acclaimed books include the picture books Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, and A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, about the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.

Her new book for middle grade readers, Some Places More than Others, will be published in September 2019.

Renée is also an activist and teacher who helps young people deal with personal and societal trauma. She has served as a writer in residence in schools and community centers nationwide. She launched the #LangstonsLegacyCampaign in 2016, purchasing poet Langston Hughes' historic Harlem brownstone with the goal of developing it into a collective artists' space.

Learn more about Renée here: http://www.reneewatson.net/about

This annual lecture honors the work of the late Effie Lee Morris by celebrating the work of writers and illustrators for children whose work exemplifies the causes she championed: inclusivity, diversity, and the rights of all children to read, learn, and create. Ms. Morris was the first coordinator of children's services at SFPL, the first African-American president of the Public Library Association, and a founder of the local chapter of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA).

In the second lecture in this year's series, we will welcome author and educator F. Isabel Campoy on Wednesday, October 2.

The Effie Lee Morris Lecture series is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 415-557-4554.

Photo credit: NAACP