Lone Star Literary’s Tour of Texas, Fall 2016

Back in September, the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration found us here on our home turf of Lubbock. Among the many cowboy poets and songwriters, storytellers, and book dealers (including our friends at Texas Tech University Press, and bookman Len Ainsworth of Lubbock) was YA novelist S. J. Dahlstrom, signing copies of his Wilder Good for some of his up-and-coming fans.

Next week: coverage of Dallas, where we were back in the Big D during the opening days of the State Fair of Texas.

Abilene’s beloved “Nickel” to celebrate twenty years of art, 1997–2017

Since 1997, the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL, or as it’s known locally, “the Nickel”), has celebrated picture books while nurturing and fostering creativity through art and literature. The NCCIL is the first museum to exhibit, tour, collect, and preserve original art from the finest children’s literature. Located in Abilene, the Storybook Capital of Texas, the NCCIL collaborates with award-winning artists to produce high-quality exhibitions of their picture book artwork that are distinctive and appealing to museum visitors of all ages. In addition to this unique artistic partnership, following its debut at the NCCIL gallery, each exhibition travels to museums, public libraries, and galleries nationwide.

In 1993, noted author William Joyce set his book Santa Calls in Abilene, Texas. (For those unfamiliar with the storyline, it concerns a boy named who journeys north with his sister and his pal by special invitation from Santa himself.) Gary McCaleb, then mayor of Abilene, called the author, and the two men met in 1994. What emerged was the idea of honoring the best of children’s picture book art in the form of a museum in Abilene. Soon, the blueprint for the NCCIL was drawn, and the museum was incorporated in February 1997.

Since then, the NCCIL has organized over fifty exhibitions, hosted about 200,000 elementary school kids, and donated more than 10,000 books to school libraries and classrooms, while keeping its admission and programming free for all, all year round. Through its traveling exhibitions, the NCCIL reaches over a million people annually, all around the country.

The NCCIL is the center point of the annual summer Children’s Arts and Literacy Festival (CALF) organized by the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council. Every year, a new storybook sculpture from the featured NCCIL summer artist is unveiled, bringing the total to 18 sculptures in downtown Abilene so far. Statues of All the Guardians (Nicholas St. North to Jack Frost) from The Guardians of Childhood series by William Joyce, David from David Shannon’s No, David!, six of Dr. Seuss’s characters to Mark Teague’s How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, all call Abilene their home. The NCCIL, the CALF and the Storybook Sculptures, all prompted Abilene’s designation as the “Storybook Capital of Texas” by the state legislature in 2016.

As the NCCIL celebrates twenty years, Abilene will welcome some of its past exhibitors every month for exciting events. Participating artists to date include Mark Crilley, David Diaz, Denise Fleming, Marla Frazee, William Joyce, David Macaulay, Robert Sabuda, David Shannon, Mark Teague, David Small, and authors Leonard Marcus and Sarah Stewart.

Please check the NCCIL (www.nccil.org) and the Abilene Visitors and Convention Bureau Calendar (www.abilenevisitors.com) for event details.

(Information from organization’s press release)

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature hosts exhibit of Texas author/illustrator Brian Floca Oct. 13, 2016–Jan. 28, 2017

ABILENE — The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) will open a new retrospective exhibition starting October 13, 2016, featuring original art from author-illustrator Brian Floca. On display is original artwork from Floca’s earliest works to art from his upcoming and as yet unpublished book, Princess Cora and the Crocodile. Following its debut at the NCCIL, this exhibition will tour nationwide.

Floca is the author/illustrator and illustrator of numerous award-winning books for children. His books as author/illustrator include Locomotive, winner of the 2014 Caldecott Medal and a New York Times bestseller; Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11; Lightship; and The Racecar Alphabet. Born and raised in Temple, Texas, Brian graduated from Brown University, received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to the Caldecott Medal, Brian’s books have received four Robert F. Sibert Honor awards, a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators, and have twice been selected for the New York Times’ annual 10 Best Illustrated Books list.

For more information visit www.nccil.org or call (325) 673-4586.

(From organization’s press release)