The Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library (OCB) announces that Dr. Robert Needlman and the Ohioana Library Association were awarded the OCB at Cleveland Public Library's first Ohio Advocates of Literacy and the Literary Arts Awards. The (OCB), a national affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, honors grassroots efforts to advocate, promote, and celebrate reading, literacy, and the culture of the book within Ohio.

 

The winners will be honoredin Cleveland on Sunday, March 11, 2 p.m., during a FREE and open to the public ceremony at the Main Library, Louis Stokes Wing, E. 6th Street and Superior Avenue , part of the Writers & Readers program. The speaker is author and educator Erin Gruwell, author of The Freedom Writers Diary-How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them .

Dr. Needlman, recipient of the 2007 Ohio Advocate of Literacy Award, is honored for his statewide work with the nonprofit organization Reach Out and Read (ROR). ROR promotes the value of early literacy to new parents via education and materials at pediatric medical settings. ROR serves more than 97,000 children annually at 99 sites. Needlman, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, serves as Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and is a pediatrician at Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center.

The Ohioana Library Association, recipient of the 2007 Ohio Advocate of the Literary Arts Award, is honored for promoting and preserving Ohio 's literary heritage. Founded in 1929 and directed by Martha Kinney Cooper, then First Lady of Ohio, the association collects, preserves, and promotes Ohio's literary and arts culture. An independent nonprofit located in Columbus, the collection is comprised of more that 45,000 books, 10,000 pieces of sheet music, and approximately 20,000 biographical files on Ohio writers, musicians, artists, and others. The Association also honors statewide cultural contributions via its annual Ohioana Awards and produces the Ohioana Quarterly. For more information, call 216-623-2831.