This week, Tomi Adeyemi meets fans at Teen Lit Con; young Obama White House staffers share their stories; Santa Fe readers observe El día de los libros; colleagues, friends, and family commemorate the late Paul B. Janeczko; and the Red Balloon Bookshop celebrates Independent Bookstore Day.
Selfie Time!
Author Tomi Adeyemi took a selfie with fans during Twin Cities Teen Lit Con, held at Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, Minn., on April 27. The convention is an annual celebration of literature, YA authors, and the love of reading. Adeyemi was one of the literary festival’s headliners.
Can Do
Contributors to the collection of essays Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope and Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House met and spoke on a panel held at The Book Stall in Winnetka, Ill. Molly Dillon, who edited the book and who served in the White House from 2013–-2017 in the Domestic Policy Council’s Office of Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity, discussed how the idea for the book originated and came together, while the other panelists spoke about their writing for the collection. (From l.): Josh Dillon, brother of Molly Dillon and collaborator on the collection (he moderated the conversation); Molly Dillon; and contributors Nita Contreras, Eleanor Celeste, Jenna Brayton, and Taylor Lustig.
A Day of Reading
El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), or Día, is a literacy initiative founded by poet and author Pat Mora that includes a yearly celebration held each Apr. 30. This year, families, librarians, and teachers across the country took part in reading and storytelling events for Díapalooza, including students in El Camino Real Academy in Santa Fe, N.M., where Mora visited. Here, students read Mora’s book, Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros (HarperCollins).
A Proper Celebration
Authors, editors, and friends gathered at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick, Me., to celebrate the publication of The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems (Candlewick) and its late anthologist, Paul B. Janeczko. (From l.): Gary Lawless of Gulf of Maine Books; author-illustrator Melissa Sweet; Liz Bicknell, editorial director at Candlewick; author-illustrator Matt Tavares; Anne Irza-Leggat, educational marketing supervisor at Candlewick; Jim Schneider; Nadine Edris, Janeczko’s wife; and Lynn Plourde. Janeczko died on February 19 at age 73.
Honoring Indies
Independent Bookstore Day was April 27, and bookstores across the nation held celebratory events. At Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn., the state’s Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and her daughter, Siobhan, did a read-aloud of Bowwow Powwow (Minnesota Historical Society Press) by Brenda J. Child and Jonathan Thunder.
