On April 17, the Horn Book was invited to staff a table at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design's (MassArt) Hellerstein Literary Reading and Lecture Series. The theme was "Connected Legacies: The Making of Children’s Books" and featured talks by two wonderful Friends of the Horn Book: Ekua Holmes and Autumn Allen.

Their "connected legacies" were both metaphorical and literal: Allen is the daughter of the late sculptor and educator Fern Cunningham Terry, a longtime friend and colleague of Holmes, and the two are collaborating on a book about one of Terry's important pieces: Step on Board, a monument to Harriet Tubman in Boston's South End.

Allen spoke first, then Holmes, then they asked each other questions and took questions from the audience; one audience member described hosting Terry at his house just before the unveiling of her work and the importance of Boston's Black arts community. There was much to take away, but one thing I loved was hearing Allen talk about her childhood perception of her mother as "just mom," and now being able to honor and amplify her important place in the art world.

Holmes, too, talked about the support of her family -- her cousin is author Tricia Elam Walker whose mother, Barbara, was a hugely influential Boston librarian and activist -- and about how her own work with the Roxbury Sunflower Project and at MassArt with sparc! the ArtMobile can inspire the next generations of artists (contribute to the Fern Cunningham Terry Memorial Fund to support their work here). Also: MassArt has an entire bay of elevators decorated with Holmes's imagery (see below)! Thanks so much to Cheryl Clark at MassArt for inviting us and to Cathie Mercier at Simmons University for making the connection.