Author Spotlight: Memorable Newbery Acceptance Speeches

STEVEN:  We start our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery discussions soon (full schedule here), but here’s one last post before we jump into all that. During this Heavy Medal season, we’ve done some “Author Spotlight” posts to share information and appreciation for the amazing writers that have earned the eminent honor of being recognized by the Newbery Committee. Our earlier posts were:

• Notable Newbery Authors
• Newbery Powerhouses
• Notable Non-Newbery Winners

For our final entry in the series, we decided to take a look at memorable Newbery acceptance speeches. The Newbery Medal is announced in January (or sometimes February), but the actual award isn’t presented until six months later. At the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy Awards Banquet, the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, and Children’s Literature Legacy Award each deliver a prepared speech. And these can be pretty memorable.

I’ve been lucky enough to hear a handful of speeches live. Sometimes while attending the actual banquet; other times by sitting at the back of the room, which they open up for anyone after the food is done. You’ve been to a few too, right Emily?

EMILY:  Yes, obviously for Meg Medina and Merci Suarez in 2019 and then also the year before for Erin Entrada Kelly in 2018 (HELLO UNIVERSE) and then in 2016 for Matt de la Peña (LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET). So much less than you Steven, do you even know your current count?

STEVEN:  I actually have only seen seven in person. My first was Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, who won for SHILOH in 1992.  SLJ was kind enough to invite some local reviewers to the banquet, so that was an unexpected treat for a fairly new librarian. I always remember the 2001 banquet with Richard Peck (A YEAR DOWN YONDER) because I drove down from Oregon to San Francisco with my two then-teenaged kids, and we all went to the speeches. And of course having my mom and daughter in the audience for my last one in 2013, which was for THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN. 

EMILY:  Interestingly enough, my memorable moments from speeches aren’t even Newbery. I remember Jacqueline Woodson being happy that the Laura Ingalls Wilder award changed to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. I remember Sophie Blackall comparing her second Caldecott to having her second child (very relatable). And I remember Matthew Cordell talking about how he drew on his own Caldecott Medal sticker for HELLO! HELLO! (which did not win).

“ I dimmed the lights. I took a book off of my shelves, and made a pencil rubbing of the Caldecott Honor sticker from the cover of Interrupting Chicken. I cut out this gray—wannabe silver—circle and I taped it to a copy of Hello! Hello! Then I looked at my book with its faux sticker, and I did some hardcore visualization. I chanted and I meditated on it. I may have prayed, even, that I would get one of those dreamed about early-morning phone calls.”

STEVEN:  Since my all-time favorite series is “The Chronicles of Prydain,” it’s no surprise that I read and loved Lloyd Alexander’s acceptance speech; he won the 1969 Medal for THE HIGH KING. I can’t find the full text, but a portion of his speech is here. I’ve always loved the way he talked about the importance of fantasy literature (and also, of course, demonstrated it in his work). From that speech:

“At heart, the issues raised in a work of fantasy are those we face in real life. In whatever guise – our own daily nightmares of war, intolerance, inhumanity, or the struggles of an Assistant Pig-Keeper against the Lord of Death – the problems are agonizingly familiar. And an openness to compassion, love, and mercy is as essential to us here and now as it is to any inhabitant of an imaginary kingdom.” 

EMILY: I had a lot of fun reading old Newbery speeches like Madeline L’Engle for A WRINKLE IN TIME (were you at that one Steven?) 

STEVEN: I’m afraid I missed the Madeline L’Engle acceptance, Emily…because I was two years old!

EMILY: Where she talked about how she profited from the birth of the Newbery award, and possibly even gave Spiderman inspiration?

“I am of the first generation to profit by Mr. Melcher’s excitement, having been born shortly before he established the Newbery award, and growing up with most of these books on my shelves. I learned about mankind from Hendrik Willem van Loon; I traveled with Dr. Dolittle, created by a man I called Hugh Lofting; Will James taught me about the West with Smoky; in boarding school I grabbed Invincible Louisa the moment it came into the library because Louisa May Alcott had the same birthday that I have, and the same ambitions. And now to be a very small link in the long chain of those writers, of the men and women who led me into the expanding universe, is both an honor and a responsibility.”

STEVEN:  Interesting to see how the Newbery was already influencing young writers from its beginning. I also appreciate how so many speeches have something about an adult who helped form the writers when they were young. A teacher, a parent, maybe a librarian. I always like those parts. I read last year’s speech by David Eggers, and I loved the stories he told about teachers who “catapulted me forward, which is something great educators do. They expect more of us.”  

Many of the speeches are now available online. ALA has audio links to speeches on this page.  You can search Most (or maybe all?) of the pre-2000 links are not working, but I think everything else is good. You can also see videos of some (but not all) acceptance speeches. For example,  Here’s Meg Medina’s (Emily’s year).

EMILY: What’s interesting to me is that Meg Medina recorded a NEW version of her speech, the one online is not from the actual banquet. (I know because she mispronounced my name hahaha and because I do NOT hear my baby crying in the background). I also found this link to more recent speeches. I’m really thinking the written records and audio versions are sometimes even different text than live… though clearly I have no proof.

STEVEN:  I might be wrong, but I think winning authors are required to write the speech, deliver it at the banquet, and record it separately. I don’t know if they’re allowed to alter the text. I imagine that when it’s live, they might slip away from their printed speech a bit.  Here’s Katherine Applegate’s. Her speech starts at about 2:10…feel free to skip past that introduction by the chair of that year’s Committee. Among the Katherine A. highlights: She admits to being “the first Newbery medalist in history to have co-authored not one, but two ‘Harlequin Temptation’ romances.” Then she reads an excerpt from one of them and adds that “it’s way too late for you to reconsider your choice.” 

EMILY: You know, I’ve heard you talk on the phone plenty of times and seen your picture, but never actually seen you on video (or met you). There is so much history in all of these speeches, and so much exciting information! Like I never knew Katherine Applegate authored Harlequin romances!

We received some interesting Newbery memories in our Newbery authors poll, like Karen Cushman, and Donna Barba Higuera letting students hold the Newbery medal and someone making peaches after reading HOLES!

STEVEN: I’m sure many of our Heavy Medal readers have seen, read, or viewed a Newbery speech or two. We’d love to hear any highlights and memories in the comments below. 

Filed under: Newbery History