Meg Medina has long since confirmed her promise as a writer after receiving an Ezra Jack Keats Award at The University of Southern Mississippi’s 2012 Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival.
Medina, along with other established and emerging authors and artists, will be celebrated during this year’s annual festival, which also includes the Ezra Jack Keats Award Ceremony, set for April 8-10 on the university’s Hattiesburg campus.
A New York Times bestselling author, Medina is the recipient of the festival’s top honor this year, the Southern Miss Medallion. The Cuban American author’s work spans picture books, middle-grade novels and young adult fiction. Among many other honors, she earned the Newbery Medal for her novel Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which also garnered a New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of the Year designation.
Medina is also heralded for her impactful service to community-building projects supporting young women, Latino youth and literacy. From 2023 to 2024, she served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, promoting literature and literacy to millions of young people nationwide.
Dr. Mary Osborne, director of the Children’s Book Festival, said this year’s event is not Medina’s first. She received a Keats Award at the festival more than a decade ago.
“In 2012, she earned an Ezra Jack Keats Writer Award for her book Tía Issa Wants a Car, and so it’s going to feel like a full circle moment for her to return to Southern Miss as we celebrate all the wonderful work she’s done throughout her career,” Osborne said.
In partnership with the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at Southern Miss, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation will present the 2026 EJK Award winners and honor recipients during the week’s schedule of events. The annual award recognizes outstanding early-career authors and illustrators who, like Medina, go on to make significant contributions to the genre.
“It is an honor and a joy to partner with de Grummond in supporting the careers of the upcoming stars of children’s literature,” said Dr. Deborah Pope, executive director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. “In this way, de Grummond preserves the great work that’s come before and lays the foundation of what’s yet to come.”
Dr. Karlie Herndon, curator of the de Grummond Collection, echoed Pope’s sentiments.
“I’m so proud to welcome this year’s winners and honors into the Ezra Jack Keats Award family,” she said. “With stories that highlight family, human connection and appreciation for nature, alongside artwork that breathes life into the simplest but most important moments, these books will inspire and comfort children for years to come.”
The festival’s Southern Miss School of Library and Information Science lecturer will be Amanda Jones, a librarian at the forefront of the battle against censorship in school and public libraries.
“We can’t wait to hear about her experiences,” Osborne said.
Other events in the festival’s lineup include presentations by picture book authors and illustrators Ben Clanton and Molly Idle, with Idle serving as the festival’s Coleen Salley Storyteller. Lee Ostertag will provide another perspective as the author of Dungeon Club, a middle-grade title centered on a Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party, and John Green will present as the de Grummond Lecturer. A screening of The Librarians, a documentary by Kim Snyder, is also included in the festival’s schedule of events.
Osborne noted that breakout sessions led by educators, librarians and scholars from the field, along with events such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award Q&A panel, will allow attendees to earn CEU (continuing education unit) credit.
“Essentially, this year’s festival is going to be an amazing time,” Osborne said.
For more information, including the complete schedule, visit the festival website.