Filtering by: Conferences

NJASL Spring 2023 Mini-Con (online!)
Apr
1
8:30 AM08:30

NJASL Spring 2023 Mini-Con (online!)

I look forward to being part of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians’ Spring 2023 Mini-Con, an online event with the theme “Hope & Healing” on Saturday, April 1, 2023. In our session titled Big Emotions in Middle Grade Fiction: Three Authors Discuss Finding Hope and Healing on the Page, Karuna Riazi (A Bit of Earth), Bree Barton (Zia Erases the World), and I (Wishing Season) will discuss how stories with big emotions—including isolation, sadness, depression, and grief—can serve young readers: offering hope, healing, refuge, and recognition, and opening the door to important conversations. Conference attendees may tune in to the session live or watch the recording later. If you’re a school librarian, I’d love to see you there! Here’s where to register.

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NJASL Spring 2022 Mini-Con (online!)
Apr
2
8:00 AM08:00

NJASL Spring 2022 Mini-Con (online!)

I look forward to being part of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians’ Spring 2022 Mini-Con, an online event with the theme “Live! Laugh! Love!” on Saturday, April 2, 2022. I’ll be giving an author talk from 11:25am to 11:40am on the topic Scared Silly: Using Spooky Stories in the Classroom. Conference attendees may tune in to the session live or watch the recording later. If you’re a school librarian, I’d love to see you there!

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NJASL Spring 2021 Mini-Con (online!)
Mar
13
11:35 AM11:35

NJASL Spring 2021 Mini-Con (online!)

I look forward to being part of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians’ Spring 2021 Mini-Con, an online event with the theme “REthink, REfresh, and REboot,” on Saturday, March 13, 2021. I’ll be giving an author talk from 11:35am to 11:50am (session 8) on using love of story to encourage and empower young writers. If you’re a NJ school librarian, I’d love to see you there!

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2018 AWP Conference
Mar
8
to Mar 10

2018 AWP Conference

  • Tampa Convention Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

I look forward to attending the Association of Writers & Writing Programs's annual conference from March 8-10 in Tampa, Florida. On Thursday, March 8, I will be speaking about Always Forever Maybe and more on two panels:

(A)Dressing the Wound: Writing the Traumatic Event with Truth and Sensitivity (10:30am in Grand Salon B on the second floor of the Marriott Waterside, March 8), with authors Bree Barton, Emily X.R. Pan, Sonia Belasco, and Terry J. BentonFranz Kafka famously said we ought to “read only the kind of books that wound or stab us.” But Kafka was coming from a place of privilege—and he wasn’t writing for young adults. How do you write the reality of rape, suicide, police brutality, and violence without re-traumatizing young readers? And how do you plumb the depths of your personal traumas while also taking care of yourself emotionally? In this panel, five YA authors talk about how and why they write traumatic events into their novels.

From Best Friends Forever to Toxic Bonds: Digging Deep into Complex Female Friendships in Young Adult Literature (3pm in Meeting Room 1 on the second floor of the Marriott Waterside, March 8), with authors Amy Reed, Marcy Beller Paul, Sarah Nicole Smetana, and Kit FrickFive YA authors from debut to established discuss the complex, three-dimensional friendships that populate their work: Blurred boundaries between friendship and obsession; shattered friend groups; lasting friendships tested by difficult new relationships; girls from diverse backgrounds uniting to fight misogynist culture. Panelists discuss one another's work and the choices that have inspired theirs when writing fiercely good and withstanding to fiercely fraught and destructive teen friendships.

For more information about the 2018 AWP Conference, or to register, click here.

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