Rewatch the event here!
Due to the ongoing need for social distance and safety related to the Covid-19 Virus, the Hillsborough Literacy Council will be holding a virtual annual assembly this year.
As always, we have a wonderful guest speaker:
Csaba Osvath
As a native Hungarian, Csaba Osvath spent his childhood and early adult life in Hungary. His love of plants, animals, and the contemplative life of farming led him to study horticulture and later theology. In 1999, Csaba traveled to a small, adversely affected Welsh town to serve a struggling community through volunteering at a local church, including the public schools, the library, and the town’s art center. Although Csaba studied ancient languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Latin) as part of his theological training, he spoke very little English before traveling to the U.K. However, this immersive experience and the challenges of living in a foreign country without adequate language skills offered him profound insights about the power of language and literacy. A year later, when he received a scholarship to study in the United States, his English language skills were still inadequate to meaningfully participate in graduate classrooms among native English speakers. To cope with this situation, Csaba turned to the creative arts and started creating sculptures, later drawings, paintings, and art installations to compensate for his lack of vocabulary and his limitations of spoken and written language. Now, two decades later, Csaba is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida, pursuing literacy studies with a special focus on qualitative methods and creativity. His research also explores how visual art, video games, and virtual reality experiences can be integrated into literacy education. His current project is the integration of a deliberate artistic engagement into literacy practices, exploring how art making and crafting aesthetic objects may deepen one’s engagement with reading and writing.
We will also feature the return of our Master of Ceremonies,
News Channel 8’s Rod Carter!
This year’s ceremony will feature the release of our annual publication, Visions, including readings from the latest edition.
Rewatch the event here!