Hubbs Children's Literature Conference
For over 30 years, the University of St. Thomas has proudly hosted the annual Hubbs Children's Literature Conference. All are welcome, including teachers, parents, students, librarians, writers and anyone interested in encouraging the use of quality children’s literature in homes, schools and communities.
Each year features award-winning authors and illustrators whose books have made an impact in classrooms. Past speakers include Nikki Grimes, Bryan Collier, Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, Emily Arnold McCully, Marion Dane Bauer, Eric Rohmann, Jane Yolen and Christopher Paul Curtis.
The annual event is made possible thanks to a generous endowment established by Twin Cities philanthropist and prolific reader Ronald M. Hubbs. This endowment also supports the Hubbs Children's Literature Collection, which includes picture books and fiction and nonfiction for grades K-12. View the collection at the university's Charles J. Keffer Library in Minneapolis.
Hubbs Children's Literature Conference
The 2024 Hubbs Children's Literature Conference took place on Feb. 24. Thank you to all who joined us for author talks with V.T. Bidania (author of the Astrid and Apollo book series) and Juana Martinez-Neal (Caldecott Honor recipient for Alma and How She Got Her Name).
Many thanks also to local authors who joined us: Heather Bouwman, author of children's novels including Gossamer Summer and A Crack in the Sea; and Shayla Michelle Reaves, WCCO journalist and author of Echo in the Darkness.
Details for the 2025 conference will be announced in the fall.
Hubbs Children's Collection
The Hubbs family endowment also supports the Hubbs Children's Literature Collection, which includes picture books and fiction and nonfiction for grades K-12. View the collection at the university's Charles J. Keffer Library in Minneapolis.
A Love of Books
Meet Our Donors
A devotee of books since the age of five, Ronald M. Hubbs collected over 4,000 books for his personal library. A successful businessman and philanthropist, he made time to participate in Great Books discussion groups for over forty years and once served on the Governor's Committee on Illiteracy.
He and his wife, Margaret, generously established the Hubbs endowment in 1992, at which time the university launched the annual Hubbs Children's Literature Conference in gratitude for their generous financial and literary gifts. The Hubbs endowment funds also were used to establish the extensive and ever-growing children's literature collection at St. Thomas.