Release Date: March 8, 2007

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Internationally known children’s author Jane Kurtz, a 1973 graduate of Monmouth College, will be back on campus March 19 to speak to education classes and visit with students and faculty.

At 4:30 p.m., Kurtz will make a presentation at the Warren County Library that is free and open to the public. Kurtz will also address the adult education class at Faith United Presbyterian Church at 9:15 a.m. on March 18.

Since 1994, Kurtz has published 22 books, spanning the literary genres from early readers and picture books to professional books for teachers and novels that draw on her own childhood memories of growing up in Ethiopia. She has also authored books on her great grandmother’s adventures traveling the Oregon Trail, on the minor crises of her children’s lives – from a friendship gone sour to the grouchiness of a rainy day – and on living through the Red River flood of 1997.

The latter book, “River Friendly, River Wild,” earned Kurtz a 2000 Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It took the top prize in the picture book text category.

Kurtz recently returned to Africa – her seventh trip there since 1997 – where she worked with teachers. In 2001, she was one of 14 authors invited to Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the presidential inauguration to speak about the importance of reading.

For more information on the author, visit her Web site at www.janekurtz.com.

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