Since 2005, more than 18,000
Sacramento-area school children have benefited from Words Take
Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children’s Literature. This annual
celebration, held each February, gives students the opportunity
to hear about the personal journeys and creative processes of
acclaimed authors and illustrators of diverse children’s
literature whose stories about Native American heritage, Asian
culture, African American culture, and Latino identity, among
many others, allow them to explore a wide range of perspectives
and world views.
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Words Take Wing will host
award-winning children’s author Aida Salazar in two free virtual
events via Zoom:
Author, arts activist, and translator Aida Salazar was born
in Mexico and grew up in a family of seven children in Southeast
Los Angeles. Her fiction and nonfiction writings for adults and
children explore issues of identity and social justice. Salazar
is the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade verse
novels, The Moon Within (International Latino Book Award Winner)
and Land of the Cranes (Américas Award, California Library
Association Beatty Award, Northern CA Book Award, NCTE Charlotte
Huck Honor, Jane Addams Peace Honor, International Latino Book
Award Honor). Her most recent novel A Seed in the Sun releases on
Oct. 25, 2022. Her other works include the picture book
anthology, In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of Immigrants of
Color; the forthcoming bio picture book Jovita Wore Pants:
The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter (Spring, 2023) and
the anthology Calling the Moon: Period Stories by BIPOC
Authors (Spring, 2023). Aida is a founding member of LAS
MUSAS – a Latinx kidlit author collective. Her
story, By the Light of the Moon, was adapted into a ballet
production by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first
Xicana-themed ballet in history. She lives with her family of
artists in a teal house in Oakland, CA.
Words Take Wing is made possible by the support of our title
sponsors
