The Ithan Elementary School PTO’s Cultural Arts Committee will host esteemed authors Jules and Kate Feiffer Tues., Feb. 23. In a series of assemblies throughout the day, Jules and Kate will share their award-winning children’s literature and discuss their artistic processes.

This is a rare opportunity, as the two do not often tour.

The assemblies are scheduled for 9 and 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with two grades attending each assembly. Jules and Kate will guests of honor for a luncheon between the second and third assemblies. At this time, they will be autographing books that IES families have purchased ahead of time and will also meet and chat with IES teachers.

This cultural arts presentation is underwritten in part by the Radnor Educational Foundation, which supports many academic programs at all levels in Radnor.

Jules Feiffer has won a number of prizes for his cartoons, plays and screenplays, including the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning and an Oscar for his animated short film, Munro. A celebrated cartoonist, he has been extensively published in the New Yorker, the Village Voice, and the New York Times, among other publications.

In his mid-sixties, inspired by his three daughters, he reinvented himself as a children’s author and has written and illustrated over a dozen books. He lives in New York City.

Jules’ daughter, Kate Feiffer, is a writer and filmmaker. She has worked as a television producer in New York and Boston, and later became a freelance writer and publicist. Kate has three picture books in print, with two more on the way in early 2009.

She has collaborated with her father on Henry the Dog with No Tail, and they are currently at work on a new endeavor – and Ithan students will be among the first to get a sneak preview.