By: Margot Dragos
Audiences harnessed their inner child at “The Poetry of Picture Books,” an event hosted by The Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute in the Brooklyn College (BC) Library’s Woody Tanger Auditorium on Oct. 26. This is the fourth event in a five-part series celebrating recent books by Humanities and Social Sciences faculty. The event highlighted Professor Matthew Burgess’s picture book “Fireworks” and “We Go Slow,” a picture book by fellow educator and poet Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie.
Burgess’s “Fireworks” features illustrations by Catia Chien and follows “the simple delights of a steamy July day in the city as two siblings eagerly anticipate a spectacular fireworks display.” Chien won the Caldecott Medal, an award for the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Ekere Tallie’s “We Go Slow” is illustrated by Aaron Becker and follows a child and her grandfather as they practice looking closely at their city, appreciating its small wonders. It won the 2026 Golden Kite Award for picture book text, where “Fireworks” won an honor in the same category.
At the beginning of the discussion, the pair discussed how they “hit it off immediately” and have been friends for years since meeting at a book fair in Baltimore. They went on to explain how they started writing picture books.
“My daughter was born in 2005,” Ekere Tallie began, “and I was looking at the statistics recently of the amount of books by and about African Americans in 2005 picture books [and] it was something like 2.4%, which made sense why I couldn’t find the books I was looking for. And so I decided to start writing [them].”
Burgess and Ekere Tallie discussed being poets and how writing poetry led them to writing picture books.
“I think there was a recognition for me when I realized that the text of a picture book is sort of a poem,” Burgess told the audience. “And so it was natural, I think, for us as poets to make that pivot.”
Both authors read their books aloud as the books’ illustrations were projected on a screen behind them, showcasing the detailed drawings and intricate word placement of the text.
Shortly after Ekere Tallie concluded reading her book, Burgess asked: “What is it about slowness that inspires you?”
“It’s the ability to be present,” Ekere Tallie responded. “You know, like I think that’s where life really is. [It’s] in the time when you’re able to slow down, look, [and] see what’s around.”
As Burgess read “Fireworks” aloud, he invited the audience to read the onomatopoeias aloud like he does when reading to children. The audience echoed phrases like “boom boom!” and “pop pop!” as fireworks erupted in the book.
“I think my favorite part [of the event] was the readings of the books, because I felt like I could really slow down and just absorb,” Lucianna Sidel told The Vanguard. “And especially when [Burgess] was making us say the sounds, that was really cool.”
Sidel is in Burgess’s “Writing Poetry I” course, which was invited to the event today as a part of their class.
“[Burgess] a really great professor,” says Sidel. “He’s given all of our poems lots of good feedback.”
Audiences expressed their joy for picture books and enjoyed listening to Burgess and Ekere Tallie recite their writing.
“Well, I have four adult children, and my joke is that I kept having children because I loved reading picture books.[…],” BC Librarian Beth Evans told The Vanguard. “So much is conveyed, and it just brings me back to reading to my children.”
“When Matthew Burgess said kerfluffle, and the other word flabbergasted, I could picture myself reading those words to my children, or my grandchildren, [and] how they would giggle.”
Burgess and Ekere Tallie concluded the event by answering the audience’s questions and signing copies of their respective books. All copies available for purchase sold out by the end of the event.
“I myself may want to [write] a picture book, I don’t know, in the future one day,” said Sidel. “I feel like this was very inspiring for that.”
“Fireworks” and “We Go Slow” are available for purchase at booksellers throughout the city. For updates on future Wolfe Institute events, follow their Instagram @bcwolfeinstitute.