Young People’s Poet Laureate at Broward County Library’s 2025 Conference on Children’s Literature

The Broward County Library’s 2025 Conference on Children's Literature is a free, all-day event open to educators of all kinds—librarians, teachers, and parents. The Conference will provide professional development, research and innovation in children’s literature and support, networking, collaboration, and will contribute to a national dialogue. A complimentary light lunch will be provided and participants will have the opportunity to win signed copies of the featured titles! 

This event is a part of Young People’s Poet Laureate Carole Boston Weatherford’s programming for young readers, caregivers, librarians, and educators sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Featured Authors and Presenters

The daughter of a printer, Carole Boston Weatherford was practically born with ink in her blood. She began writing at age six and soon after saw her poems in print. Her 80-plus books have garnered two NAACP Image Awards and 18 American Library Association Youth Media Awards, including a Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award, and four Caldecott Honors. Her career achievements have been recognized with the ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and the Nonfiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild. The 2024 Young People’s Poet Laureate and a retired HBCU professor, she lives in Baltimore. 

Jeffrey Boston Weatherford is an award-winning children's book illustrator and a rapper. His latest book, Rap It Up!, was inspired by workshops merging writing and technology. KIN: Rooted in Hope won a Coretta Scott King Honor and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Poetry. His debut book, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, was named an ALSC Notable Book and a best book of the year by National Council for the Social Studies and Kirkus Reviews. Jeffery's art has been exhibited in Washington, DC; Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Formerly a National Book Foundation teaching artist, he holds an MFA from Howard University where he was a Romare Bearden Scholar. He lives in North Carolina.

Carole and Jeffrey Boston Weatherford will be joining as part of The Ashley Bryan Art Series: Dreams take Flight through Art and Literature. 

Learn more about the additional featured authors and presenters