Decorated authors to keynote Oswego Writing Institute

Award-winning authors Gary Schmidt and Carole Boston Weatherford will speak at Oswego Writing Institute 2016’s “Toward an Authentic Writing Classroom,” running 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 16 and 17, in SUNY Oswego’s Marano Campus Center.

The Michigan-based Schmidt, a prolific children’s and young adult book author, received both a Newbery Honor award and a Michael L. Printz Honor for “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” and a Newbery Honor for “The Wednesday Wars.” He is a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

Since her literary debut with “Juneteenth Jamboree” in 1995, poet and author Weatherford has won many awards, including the Caldecott Honor for “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement.” Author of 44 books, she is a professor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

In addition to the author keynotes at the free professional-development institute, participants will choose from a variety of options focused on the writing process and Common Core-aligned writing instruction.

For more information or to register for Oswego Writing Institute 2016—co-sponsored by SUNY Oswego School of Education, Team Sheldon and the Fulton City School District—contact Christine Walsh at christine.walsh@oswego.edu.