“These books include characters from many walks of life, who discover imaginative ways of coping, triumphing and sharing. “Children will see themselves in the 2023 EJK Award and Honor books, delight in the illustrations and enjoy reading them over and over again,” said Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the EJK Foundation. Zahra Marwan for Where Butterflies Fill the Sky written by Zahra Marwan (Published by Bloomsbury) Juliana Perdomo for Sometimes All I Need is Me illustrated by Juliana Perdomo (Published by Candlewick Press)Ĭhioma Ebinama for Emile and the Field written by Kevin Young (Published by Make Me a World, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books) Pauline David-Sax for Everything in Its Place illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (Published by Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books) The 2023 Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor winners are:

Written by Doug Salati (Published by RISE X Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House) The 2023 Ezra Jack Keats Award winner for Illustrator is: Illustrated by Kari Percival (Published by RISE X Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House) Kari Percival for How to Say Hello to a Worm The 2023 Ezra Jack Keats Award winner for Writer is: The ceremony will also be live-streamed on the festival’s website. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at USM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, marking the first in-person award ceremony since 2019. The award ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at 1:00 PM ET, during the Fay B.

The annual EJK Award celebrates exceptional early career authors and illustrators for portraying the multicultural nature of our world in the spirit of Ezra Jack Keats. March 14, 2022, Brooklyn, NY: The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation (EJK Foundation), in partnership with the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), today announced the winners of the 2023 Ezra Jack Keats Award (EJK Award), as well as four honor books.

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