Canadian children’s publishing veteran Patsy Aldana has been named the 2021 Carle Honors Honoree in Mentorship, as part of the annual awards given out by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Mentor award is for editors, designers, and educators who champion the art form of the picture book. Aldana was recognized for “devoting her career to bringing new voices to picture books as the founder of Groundwood Books, past president of International Board on Books for Young People … and publisher of Aldana Libros, a new imprint at Greystone Kids.”

“This is a huge honour,” says Aldana, in an email to Q&Q. “Of course it’s due to the many incredible people I’ve worked with at Groundwood and now Greystone. And also thanks to the wonderful world of IBBY – where the world comes together to bring great books to kids everywhere, especially to children in crisis. Their situation is worse than ever right now.”

When Aldana joined forces with Greystone last year to start the Aldana Libros imprint, which specializes in English language versions of international picture books, she told Q&Q she was looking to publish “not just beautiful, pretty books, but books with really substantial content that open children’s eyes to the world.”

The Carle Honors Honorees will be celebrated at an event in fall 2021.