Press Release Fun: Do You Know Dia?

I got an email from Ms. Laurina Cashin the other day and it struck my fancy.

“I hope you already know about El día de los niños, el dia de los libros/Children’s Day, Book Day, called Día, the family literacy initiative founded by Pat Mora and now housed at the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of ALA. I work with Pat and we’re gearing up for our month-long, online celebration, Díapalooza.  New this year is our project, Día Author and Illustrator Ambassadors, created to increase awareness and support for Día. We’ve put up a special page on Pat’s Día site (http://www.patmora.com/dia/dia_ambassadors.htm ) to highlight the Ambassadors, all who’ve agreed to do two advocacy actions for Día this year, through social media, videos, and face-to-face presentations.”

This is a celebration I’d vaguely heard of in the past but hadn’t had a chance to examine more closely.  Looking into it I found a lot of great information.  It’s all beautifully organized.  There’s Pat’s letter to authors and illustrators about the day.  There’s the website dedicated to Dia with lots of background information.  And sure as shooting ALSC does indeed have a Dia site where they encourage libraries to register their own Dia 2012 programs.  There’s another advantage to having a Dia program above and beyond that, though.  Libraries that participate can apply for the 2012 Estela and Raul Mora Award which grants $1000 to a library that promotes the day in some way.  Check it out, folks.  Your library system might be eligible.

So gear up for April 30th!  Even if your library has never celebrated it before, there’s no time like the present.  Thanks to Laurina for the info!

Filed under: Press Release Fun