By Cole Allen, Apr. 19 2022
This year the Golden Leaves Author Awards are back to recognize faculty, students and alumni who have written or edited a published book that year. This year’s Golden Leaves Author Awards, which took place April 8, was the first year back since the pandemic.
Many of the faculty’s written books are centered within their specific fields of study. Maryann Hasso, a lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona and English teacher at Adelanto High School, was honored for her book “Research Based Bilingual Instruction: The Impact of Multiple Modalities in a K-12 English Learner Classroom.”
“This book is about how English learners learn in different ways,” said Hasso. “With their peers, through peers that they are comfortable with, with peers that speak the same language as them, through peers that are more bilingual than they are, as an effective strategy. Other strategies, such as ensuring they are able to submit their work in their home language as well as the English language, that way they can switch between both.”
The university acknowledged the work that faculty do to expand the information known and proposed through their research and publications. Hasso was reached out to by the University Library to apply for her book to receive one of this year’s Golden Leaves Author Awards.
Other authors awarded wrote on topics near and dear to their hearts.
Shayda Kafai, an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic and Women’s Studies, felt it was important to remind herself, and speak to others in her community, that their stories matter and that their mind and bodies can create change.
“A book about a disability justice performance group in San Francisco called Sins Invalid,” said Kafai. “It’s really an offering to the disabled, queer, trans of color community about the different ways in which we do disabled dreaming and disabled activism for our collective survival, but really for everyone’s resilience and thriving. So, it looks at disabled wisdom, disabled queer of color storytelling and activisms, specifically disability justice activism.”
Along with faculty, the library honored published students and alumni with awards as well. Cierra Martinez, an English literature major, was one of the two currently enrolled students awarded this year, and the only honoree with two published works.
“I actually have two books out,” said Martinez. “They’re contemporary coming-of-age stories, so I write about high schoolers going through real-life issues. I think it’s important to write stories that people can relate to.”
Martinez already has another book planned, maintaining the theme of high school coming-of-age stories.
The ceremony took place online this year, from 11a.m to noon. through Zoom. Being online, honorees were allowed the opportunity to invite their friends and family along with them. The meeting had a turnout of around 50 people, giving awards to those published since 2019 within the school.
The Golden Leaves program, funded and run by the University Library, has been celebrating authors from the campus community since 1986.
Every year during April, the University Library hosts the National Library Week. During this month, the University Library shows appreciation for the efforts and accomplishments of writers and editors within the CPP community.
This was one of the bigger ceremonies for the program, compiling the past two years of awards into this year due to the pandemic.
Honorees were awarded plaques for their work and will be showcased on a display on the fourth floor of the library for the whole month of April. Allowing their hard work to be celebrated by the community is the goal of the University Library and its Golden Leaves Author Awards program.
If the campus community is interested in viewing the books awarded, visit the circulation desk in the library.
Feature image by Cole Allen