The American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition took place June 21–26 in New Orleans, bringing together librarians and library staff, educators, authors, illustrators, and publishers. We’ve gathered a selection of highlights from the event, including signings by award-winning children’s and YA authors, in-booth appearances, panels, and more.
Candlewick staff and creators, including authors and illustrators (from l.) Marc Aronson, Eugene Yelchin, Cynthia Leitich Smith (sixth from l.), Meg Medina, Lila Quintero Weaver, and M.T. Anderson (third from r.), outside New Orleans landmark Tujague’s following a Candlewick dinner there.
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jacqueline Woodson (l.) and National Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith signing in the Library of Congress booth.
Erin Entrada Kelly, 2018 Newbery Medalist for Hello, Universe (Greenwillow), and Matthew Cordell, 2018 Caldecott Medalist for Wolf in the Snow (Feiwel and Friends), met for the first time in the HarperCollins booth.
Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson with Bryan Collier, cover artist for Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury).
Father-and-son team Jarrod Shusterman (l.) and Neal Shusterman sign copies of their forthcoming novel, Dry (Simon & Schuster).
Thi Bui, illustrator of A Different Pond (Capstone), holds her Caldecott Honor plaque, alongside author Bao Phi.
Natasha Ngan, author of Girls of Paper and Fire, spends some quality time with her ARCs (Little, Brown/Patterson).
Jason Reynolds (l.), author of the 2018 Author Honor Book Long Way Down (Atheneum/Dlouhy), and David Barclay Moore, winner of the 2018 John Steptoe Award for New Talent for The Stars Beneath Our Feet (Knopf), at the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast.
Brandy Colbert, Little & Lion (Little, Brown) author and 2018 Stonewall Book Award winner, and debut author Jay Coles (Tyler Johnson Was Here, Little, Brown) snack on local treats at Café Beignet after their PopTop Stage panel on the “Fab Four of YA.”
Alex Gino, author of the forthcoming middle grade novel You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! (Scholastic Press).
Author Sarah McGuire signing copies of her middle grade novel, The Flight of Swans (Carolrhoda).
Ransom Riggs unlocks the filing cabinet filled with early manuscripts of A Map of Days (Dutton), the latest in his Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series.
A number of authors came together for the annual YA Coffee Klatch.
Author Melissa Stewart at her signing for A Seed Is the Start (National Geographic Kids).
Leah Tinari, author of Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit and Guts, shares the inspiration behind her work at the Simon & Schuster art luncheon.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt school and library marketing specialist Amanda Acevedo (l.) dressed up like the book-loving heroine of Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian (Clarion), joined by the book’s illustrator, Vera Brosgol, who was decked out in a Lyric McKerrigan cape.
(From l.): Ellen Oh, Preeti Chhibber, and Julie Kagawa sign copies of their anthology, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings (Greenwillow).
The Printz Award committee with 2018 Printz Award winner Nina LaCour (front row, center) and fellow Printz Honorees (front row, from l.) Jason Reynolds, Deborah Heiligman, Angie Thomas, and Laini Taylor.
David Shannon and his editor, Bonnie Verburg, v-p and editorial director of Scholastic’s Blue Sky Press.
Ekua Holmes (l.), the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Illustrator winner for Out of Wonder, with the book’s art director, Amy Berniker, in the Candlewick booth.
(From l.): Vania Stoyanova and Kimberly Jones of YATL, a monthly YA talk show hosted at the Georgia Center for the Book, playing Trouble with Furyborn author Claire Legrand (Sourcebooks Fire).
Musician and author Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews performed with students from the Trombone Shorty Foundation at ALA’s opening session.
Life imitating art with author Vince Vawter at the Mississippi River bridge, where his character reaches a climactic moment in Copyboy (Capstone).
Abrams hosted a dinner for librarians in celebration of Andrea Beaty’s (third row from top, center) upcoming chapter book, Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters.
