Ben Wicks
Keynote Speaker
In 1996, Ben Wicks was asked to be a patron of Laubach. Honoured to be asked, he readily agreed...and then asked what the organization did. It was a magic moment for the largest of Canada's literacy organizations and Canada. The information that Ben received from Laubach "shocked me to my roots". Thirty percent of Canadians were functionally illiterate, he was told.Determined to do something about these appallling figures, Ben developed an idea to help alleviate the problem. Believing that many parents wanted to hook their children on reading, Ben decided to tell them how.
Through a brilliant program designed to reach parents, Born to Read became the most successful literacy program ever in Canada. On one special day in 1996, almost two million children ran home to their parents clutching the tiny book in their fists. The success prompted two more books in the same series. Born to Read and Write and Born to Read, Write and Count. The three books reached the unbelievable distribution figure of almost six million books, equalling a readership to ten million.
Chosen by CIBC Wood Gundy as the winner of the 1997 Children's Miracle Maker Award for creating the Born to Read program, Ben Wicks will speak at the PNLA Conference on the subject of reading and how Born to Read was able to overcome the various obstacles thrown in its path.
An author of over 25 books, illustrator of six children's books and original artist for the Disney Katie and Orbie television series, this dynamic speaker has motivated and inspired audiences to such a degree that aTime magazine, in a full page story on Wicks, made mention of the importance of his communication skills.
In 1986, Ben Wicks was presented with Canada's highest civilian award, The Order of Canada. His wife also received The Order of Canada in 1989 for her work with children in the Third World, making them one of the few couples in Canada so honoured.
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