Effie Lee Morris Lecture Series

Jason Reynolds Speaks on “Transformation” February 25

Jason Reynolds, author of National Book Award finalist Ghost, the Newbery Honor Award-winning Long Way Down, and numerous other titles for middle grade and young adult readers, will appear in a special livestreamed SFPL lecture on Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 5 pm PST. This 25th Effie Lee Morris Lecture is free for all ages. Registration required. Learn more and register here.

Reynolds also collaborated with historian Ibram X. Kendi on Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You, a 2020 youth version of Kendi's definitive history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning.

The winner of a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, an 2017 NAACP Image Award and multiple other honors, Reynolds spent 2020 serving as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, sharing his transformative journey as a writer – and a reader – with youth during a year of previously unimaginable transformation. Prepare for his creative exploration of the theme of “Transformation” – and prepare to be transformed.

This lecture series – produced in partnership among the SFPL Main Children's Center, the SFPL African American Center, the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the SF Human Rights Commission, Mo' Magic and the support of the Women’s National Book Association, San Francisco chapter – is committed to highlighting the lived experiences of writers, readers and communities of color through the words and images produced by some of today’s most talented and engaging authors and illustrators of books for youth.

Effie Lee Morris – A Woman Ahead of Her Time

The Effie Lee Morris Lecture series at SFPL honors the values embodied by Effie Lee Morris (1921 – 2009), the first SFPL coordinator of children’s services, the first Black president of the Public Library Association, and a co-founder of the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.

Ms. Morris was a tireless champion of diversity, inclusivity, and the rights of all young people to read, learn and create. She initiated the first annual celebration of Black history for youth at the Cleveland Public Library, and at the New York Public Library was the first librarian whose work focused on the needs of children who were blind or visually impaired. At SFPL, she was especially noted for her commitment to personally visit underserved communities to get books into the hands of all our youth.