Sharing Stories: The Power of Picture Books to Transcend
Author and illustrator, Sydney Smith discusses the power and potential of books to connect readers, engage empathy, and explore complicated emotions. The seemingly simple medium involving the aggregation of text and image is greater than its parts. It has the ability to address the human experience, peer into the sublime and, through awe, inspire generosity and an empathetic perspective on the world we share. Picture books, at their core, speak both to a wide audience and to the individual. It is an intrinsic element of the parent/child bond and reflects the human experience that connects all readers from young to old regardless of potential demographic and cultural divides.
Sydney Smith is the award-winning author and illustrator of Small in the City and Do you Remember? as well as the illustrator of I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, and Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, among others. Sydney has received multiple awards, including New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Awards, two Carnegie Illustration Awards, and the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustrator, internationally recognizing his contribution to books for children. Sydney currently lives by the sea in Nova Scotia, Canada with his wife and children.
Keynote Speaker: Sydney Smith
Sharing Stories: The Power of Picture Books to Transcend
Author and illustrator, Sydney Smith discusses the power and potential of books to connect readers, engage empathy, and explore complicated emotions. The seemingly simple medium involving the aggregation of text and image is greater than its parts. It has the ability to address the human experience, peer into the sublime and, through awe, inspire generosity and an empathetic perspective on the world we share. Picture books, at their core, speak both to a wide audience and to the individual. It is an intrinsic element of the parent/child bond and reflects the human experience that connects all readers from young to old regardless of potential demographic and cultural divides.
Sydney Smith is the award-winning author and illustrator of Small in the City and Do you Remember? as well as the illustrator of I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, and Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, among others. Sydney has received multiple awards, including New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Awards, two Carnegie Illustration Awards, and the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustrator, internationally recognizing his contribution to books for children. Sydney currently lives by the sea in Nova Scotia, Canada with his wife and children.
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