Recently, the First Lady made a TV appearance; an author closed out her tour with the appearance of a special guest; an inaugural camp centering queer and trans publishing professionals took place; an author gave a storytime on the field; an author launched her YA sequel; and twins in the publishing industry attended a reunion.
On-Air with the First Lady
On May 29, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden made an appearance on ABC’s The View to discuss her new picture book, Willow the White House Cat (S&S/Wiseman). Biden shared the story of how her family came to adopt the real-life Willow while living in Pennsylvania. Biden (c.) with The View cohosts (from l.) Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Alyssa Farah, and Sunny Hostin onstage.
Taking the World by Storm
Tiffany D. Jackson closed out her national tour for Storm: Dawn of a Goddess (Random House) on June 9 with an event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., with local bookstore Mahogany Books. The origin story gives readers a look into the early life of powerful X-Men member Storm, previously known as Ororo. Jackson (c.) held a conversation with fellow YA author Namina Forna (r.) and greeted special guest Jason Reynolds (l.).
Building Community
The inaugural Queer Kidlit Camp took place on May 24–27 at Basecamp at Beaver Falls in Vermont, bringing together queer and trans members of the publishing industry to share their experiences and form new connections. Programming across the three-day event included panels focusing on industry troubles and personal development as well as summer camp activities.
Rooting for the Saints!
Photos by Gary Nygaard
On June 9, author David LaRochelle (c.) was joined by St. Paul Saints baseball player Kody Funderburk (r.) for a reading of his picture book Go and Get with Rex, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (Candlewick). The storytime was a part of Mackin’s Reading Tree program and took place before the Saints baseball game against the Syracuse Mets at the CHS Field in St. Paul, Minn.
A Rom-Com for the Times
On June 4, Third Place Books in Seattle welcomed Rachel Lynn Solomon (l.) for the launch of her new YA novel Past Present Future (S&S). Solomon was joined by fellow author Rachel Griffin (r.) for a conversation about romantic comedies and developing the sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow. Solomon closed the event with a book signing.
Seeing Double
On June 1, children’s author Robin Newman (l.) and Hilary Newman (r.), director of rights and permissions at Macmillan Learning, also twin sisters, attended their class reunion at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Here, Robin poses with her latest picture book, Who’s Writing This Story (Creston), which centers three little pigs determining what direction the story should take.
