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Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo speaks about the power of telling stories. During this pandemic year, and dark winter, she says “stories are light in a dark world.”

The Newbery Award-winning Minnesota writer told a University of Minnesota audience — in a virtual event in December —  that she writes alone, “but the story goes out into the world … and it has my heart in it. … There’s comfort in telling a story.”

When we read aloud, DiCamillo says, we are connecting to each other, and we “see each other as fully human.”

“Reading aloud binds us together in unexpected ways, she adds. This pandemic year is a “good time to give reading a chance.” 

John Schumacher of Rutgers University, the ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic, hosted the conversation with DiCamillo at a University of Minnesota Humphrey School virtual event on Dec. 18. DiCamillo has served as the national ambassador of Young People’s Literature. She was awarded three John Newbery Medals, and was twice nominated for the National Book Award. A film based on her book “Flora and Ulysses” begins streaming on Disney Plus on Friday, Feb. 19.

She is the author of many books, including:

DiCamillo and Schumacher also recommended several books by other authors: 

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Newbery Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo speaks at a University of Minnesota event about the joy and comfort in reading and writing books. 

Author Kate DiCamillo on the joy and comfort in reading — and writing — books

A woman wearing a scarf sitting in a staircase.

Author Kate DiCamillo on the joy and comfort in reading — and writing — books

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