In 2024, this annual event celebrating literacy and Iowa authors highlighted libraries’ role in charting a bright path for the future. In addition to our typical crowd of donors, friends, and library staff, we welcomed two tables of “kid librarians” and their grownups.
DMPL’s new program invites children from our community to select and share their favorite books in a special display at Central Library. These young library lovers are also highlighted in “Informed & Inspired,” a monthly update for the library’s most awesome advocates: KIDS!
The Des Moines Public Library Foundation recognized three outstanding Iowa authors for their contributions. Each honoree reflected on the ways libraries served as a safe place to explore new ideas and highlighted how having the freedom to read shaped their pathways.
Our 2024 Emerging Iowa Author Carol Roh Spaulding has contributed to the literary community for many years, as part of the Drake University faculty and through her other work. Our awards committee recognized it’s never too late to emerge, thanks to the well-deserved recognition Carol garnered for “Waiting for Mr. Kim and Other Stories,” which received the Flannery O’Conner Award for the Short Story from University of Georgia Press in 2022. In her remarks, Spaulding acknowledged the audience likely included many aspiring writers. In our era of book bans, she encouraged everyone to act as an aspiring reader—seeking out opportunities to read outside of our comfort zones.
Journalist, essayist, and author Lyz Lenz was recognized with the 2024 Iowa Author Award. Her writing appears in The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, and other outlets. This American Ex-Wife, a divorce memoir published earlier this year, was an instant New York Times best seller. During her acceptance speech, Lenz recalled how she had to sneak books that expanded her worldview out of the library when she was a little girl. With her children in the audience, Lenz called on fellow parents to embrace libraries as a resource and books as a tool to help youth understand life’s complexities, challenges, and beauty.
Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey, is an author, performer, and curates a community of spoken word in Iowa City. His high school program, IC Speaks, and events like the Mic Check Poetry Fest, grow the literary scene in our state. Rainey, who has published two books, Look, Black Boy, and Heart Notes, released two albums, competes in poetry slams across the United States. He ‘spit’ some verse for our audience as part of his Poetry Award acceptance speech.
The event also celebrated Tim Hickman and Frank Vaia as the 2024 “Friend of Literacy” recipients. Guests helped raise more than $15,000 in additional funds for library programming through our ‘raise the paddle,’ with help from Courtney Crowder and Rosie Reader.View a gallery of event images on our Facebook page.