Findlay, Ohio, April 1, 2003 —Seventeen noted artists and authors of children’s picture books will serve as keynote speakers for the 2003 Mazza Summer Institute at The University of Findlay July 21-25.

With the theme “Children’s Picture Books: Windows on the World,” a typical day at the institute will include up to five keynote addresses, pull-out sessions, breakfast, lunch and autographing sessions.

The keynote speakers are Denise Brunkus, artist of the popular Junie B. Jones series of books and illustrator of more than 50 books such as The Frog Principal, Chocolatina and A Dragon in My Backpack; Dominic Catalano, artist of many books such as Merry Christmas, Old Armadillo, Sleeping Beauty, Bernard’s Nap and Frog Went A-Courting; Nate Evans, artist of more than 30 books such as My Best Friend is Out of this World, I Am Not a Dinosaur, Monster Maker and Monster Munchies, for the “Dr. Seuss Early Reader Books;” Jean Fritz, an icon in the field of children’s literature and the author of numerous books about American history; Mary Grandpre, artist of the popular Harry Potter series of books; Susan Kathleen Hartung, the artist who received the 1999 Ezra Jack Keats Award for Dear Juno; Gloria Kamen, artist and author who has created an amazing variety of books, from fiction for the readers to biographies, and artist for the public television series Cover to Cover;

Jim LaMarche, a California artist who exploded onto the children’s book scene with the popular book The Rainbabies; Bob Marstall, the artist who received outstanding awards for his illustrations in non-fiction books such as An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly; Patrick O’Brien, artist and author of scores of non-fiction books such as The Hindenburg and The Great Ships and freelancer for Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the Smithsonian; Allen Say, winner of the 1994 Caldecott Medal for Grandfather’s Journey and 1989 Caldecott Honor for The Boy of the Three-Year Nap; Anita Silvey, former editor-in-chief of The Horn Book Magazine and author/editor of Children’s Books and Their Creators;

David Small, winner of the 2001 Caldecott Medal for So You Want To Be President and the 1998 Caldecott Honor for The Gardener; John Stadler, artist and author of more than 30 books including three Reading Rainbow Books; Sarah Stewart, author of the 1998 Caldecott Honor book The Money Tree; Hudson Talbott, artist and author of more than 20 books including the Tales of King Arthur series; and Wendy Watson, award-winning artist of more than 100 books such as Father Fox’s Pennyrhymes and The Night Before Christmas.

The Mazza Museum is the first and largest teaching gallery in the world specializing in the art from picture books. The Mazza Museum Galleria at The University of Findlay is considered by many distinguished artists of picture books to be “the center” of the children’s picture book art. The collection includes more than 2,000 pieces of art.

Space is limited to 300 participants, and registration closes July 17 or earlier if the maximum participation limit is reached. The basic registration fee is $225, which is waived for those taking the institute for undergraduate or graduate credit. Three, four or five hours of graduate credit is available for $335 per hour, while three, four or five hours of undergraduate credit is available for $399 per hour.

To register, contact Ben Sapp at 419-434-4560 or sapp@findlay.edu.