Brooklyn resident named Young People’s Literature ambassador
Jacqueline Woodson, the country’s next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, originally had someone else in mind for the job.
“It’s funny, because I called him [current ambassador Gene Luen Yang] a while back to suggest another person,” the award-winning author told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview. “And he told me, ‘Thanks, we already have a person we want.’ I had no idea it was me.”
The Library of Congress, which along with the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader announced Woodson’s appointment Thursday, will hold a formal ceremony next week to begin her two-year term. One of the country’s most acclaimed writers for young people, Woodson won the National Book Award in 2014 for the memoir-in-verse “Brown Girl Dreaming” and is also known for novels such as “Feathers” and “Another Brooklyn.” She has previously served as “young people’s poet laureate,” an advisory position for the Poetry Foundation.