IN THE ROUND to welcome Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Rebecca Kunz – BG Independent News

IN THE ROUND to welcome Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Rebecca Kunz – BG Independent News

From BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY In the fall of 2026, IN THE ROUND will welcome illustrator Rebecca Kunz, 2025 Caldecott Medal winner for Chooch Helped. The event will take place on Friday, Sept. 18, at 5:30 p.m., on BGSU’s campus, with the location to be announced. Kunz is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and of European descent. She earned a BFA in painting from the College of Santa Fe in 1998 and now lives in the foothills of Santa Fe County with her husband and three daughters. Kunz works at the intersection of climate justice and cultural awareness. With her layered surfaces, she draws upon tribal mythology and archetypal symbolism. Kunz infuses Cherokee mythology into her work, where she is in conversation with each folk tale as a living and ever-changing story. As these myths are woven into each of her pieces, they serve as hard-working and flourishing historical narratives. A visual storyteller, animist, and folklorist, Kunz hopes to illuminate awareness about the shifting cultural climate and to inspire solutions to the social and environmental issues of today. She likes to push back against sentimental chronicles, and her goal is to spark a contemporary conversation about active myth.