It is undeniable that Jason Reynolds has a way with words. Sitting in the keynote today, it felt as if all of us in that very large room were hanging on every syllable of his talk, breathing one breath. Even the overflow room was completely captured by the power of his spoken word. His energy carried across the stage and the emotion in his talk was so heartfelt, it was easy to forget that we weren’t right there with him in his stories. Such is the power of a real poet and storyteller.
“Come as you are, all are accepted, no one is turned away, here you can build community”, Jason said when talking of what makes a place sacred, important, and life-changing. A place for the people, a place like the library. This reminder that the library is a sacred place for our communities and we are its stewarts and caretakers is so important to hear again and again. It is supportive of ALA’s President Loida Garcia-Febo’s Libraries = Strong Communities advocacy initiative and rings true for libraries around the world.
Make sure to check out a brief tidbit from Jason Reynolds’ keynote on ALA’s Youtube channel here.