In just over a week, Las Vegas will be filled with librarians, library workers, publishers, and vendors for the American Library Association Annual Conference. There will be professional development sessions, committee meetings, award ceremonies, receptions, and author appearances galore– and there are plenty of YA literature related events you won’t want to miss. Here’s our round-up of what to mark on your schedule:
Friday, June 27th
- Michael L. Printz Award Program & Reception (8:00 – 10:00 pm, ticketed event)
Saturday, June 28th
- Sci Fi for Librarians Who Don’t Like Sci Fi (8:30 – 10:00 am)
- Margaret A. Edwards Brunch (10:30 am – 12 pm, ticketed event)
- Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen Feedback session (1:00 – 2:30 pm)
- The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund – Intellectual Freedom and the Defense of Graphic Novels and Comic Books (1:00 – 2:30 pm)
- YALSA Happy Hour (5:00 – 7:00 pm… and okay, this event isn’t strictly YA lit related, but you know when a bunch of YALSA members get together, we’re going to talk books.)
Sunday, June 29th
- YA Author Coffee Klatch (9:00 – 10:00 am, ticketed event)
- Alex Award Program (10:30 – 11:30am)
Monday, June 30th
- Stranger Than Fiction: Reader’s Advisory for Nonfiction (3:00 – 4:00 pm)
- Odyssey Award Ceremony (3:30pm – 5:30pm)
Additionally, while YALSA’s award committee meetings are closed, the selected list committee meetings are open to all conference attendees, so if you want to see how the titles on lists like Best Fiction for Young Adults, Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, or Great Graphic Novels for Teens are chosen, sit in on a selected list meeting! You can find the details on these sessions in the conference scheduler.
If you’re not going to Las Vegas, watch The Hub for coverage of events during and after the conference. You can also keep up with conference news on the YALSAblog and on Twitter with the hashtags #yalsa, #alaac14, #bfya.
For those of you who are headed to Vegas next week, what are you looking forward to the most?
-Allison Tran, currently reading Pointe by Brandy Colbert
