Lampman Award Luncheon Celebrated Cathy Camper
April 16, 2022
The Lampman Award Luncheon returned for the first time in over two years. We celebrated Cathy Camper! It was held outside in the River shelter at Memorial Park in Wilsonville on April 16th at 12:00 pm. Watch the Instagram Live video feed here:
Lampman Award Recipient 2022: Cathy Camper
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Congratulations to Cathy Camper, our 2022 Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award recipient for her significant contribution to the children of Oregon as both a librarian and an author. The Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award is presented annually by the Children's Services Division and is given in memory of Evelyn Sibley Lampman (1907-1980), noted Oregon teacher, journalist, and author of children’s books.
Cathy recently retired as a School Corps Librarian for Multnomah County where she offered outreach to schools and teachers in Multnomah County. She is also the author of the Lowrider graphic novels, the picture book Ten Ways to Hear Snow, a non-fiction picture book Bugs Before Time, and the soon to be released picture book, Arab Arab All Year Long. 
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As a librarian, Cathy provided services to classes from kindergarten through high school. She taught students how to keep themselves safe online, how to evaluate websites, how to find copyright-free images, how to understand book censorship, and used her own experience as an author to explain the importance of copyright and citing sources. She often booktalked new and awesome books to students. Even during the pandemic, she provided boxes of books to teachers and students. She put together teaching resources for an anti-slavery abolitionist pamphlet from the Library of Congress. She regularly shared social justice titles with educators.
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"Cathy immediately connected with my students. She knows what interests kids of all ages and is able to jump right in immediately." "She's never afraid to speak up about what matters, and she meets kids where they are, sharing her inventiveness and humor alongside her passion for equity." |
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As an author, she opens up worlds of imagination; introduces interesting, diverse characters; explores real themes (for example perseverance, bullying, friendship, self-assurance) with such energy, smartness, and downright wackiness that it keeps kids engaged and totally entertained. She mixes meaning with fun. She represents all Arab-American children who cannot find representation in books and consequently feel excluded and ostracized by the dominant culture. Cathy’s stories bridge the gap in the way our school systems teach about culture and how it’s experienced in real life. She is recognized as a mentor in her author’s critique group and also within an Immigrant and Refugees Employee Resource Group.
“Cathy's passion to honor all people extends to her books, including the Lowriders in Space series and Ten Ways to Hear Snow, which feature smart characters from marginalized cultures.” |
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Cathy pushes back against racism in publishing and librarianship. She developed a program for educators about the need for diverse books, pushing educators to think about equity and inclusion. Cathy uplifts, encourages, and promotes positive representation to underserved and underrepresented young readers. She advocates on behalf of other authors from communities that have been traditionally shut out of mainstream publishing. She has provided equity and social justice workshops as well as presenting at REFORMA’s Mock Pura Belpre Award workshop.
Cathy is also well-known for her work with zines. She helped get zines and mini comics into the collection as part of the Zine Librarian Group committee at Multnomah County Library. She created a collaborative zine called “Women of Color: How to Live in the City of Roses and Avoid the Pricks” that focused on the experiences of WOC in Portland. She uses self publishing to continually provide a voice for POC and activists not supported by the mainstream. |
“Cathy is a long-time proponent of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” “Cathy has also made a name for herself in the zine community whether it was being on the committee that buys zines for the Multnomah County Library's collection or mentoring the women of the WOC Zine Collective.” |
As if that isn’t enough, Cathy is a seed artist. She creates portraits of well-known people such as George Floyd, Billie Holliday, Che Guevara and Frida Kahlo, and also many animals. She has even won some blue ribbons for her seed art! Cathy is known for her amazing ability to connect with youth of different ages, her great sense of humor and light-hearted energy, and her special touch in getting kids fired up about books.
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As stated in another of her many nomination letters, this award is long overdue. Congratulations, Cathy Camper!
You can find Cathy on Instagram and Twitter @cfastwolf and on her website.
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2022 Lampman Committee MembersHolly Campbell-Polivka (chair), Tigard Public Library
Jane Corry, Multnomah County Library (retired) Jennifer Fischer, Crook County Library Darcy Smith, Lebanon Public Library Amanda Lamb, Newberg Public Library Deborah VanDetta, Estacada Public Library Bryce Kozla (Immediate past CSD chair), WCCLS |
