Director

Kwame Alexander

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picturebook illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 

Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. In January 2023, a Kennedy Center-commissioned national tour for young audiences began for Alexander’s musical Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie: Starring Indigo Blume, which is based on two of his beloved children’s books, Acoustic Rooster and Indigo Blume. 

Kwame is also the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Emmy-winning Writer of The Crossover TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023. The Crossover was produced in partnership with LeBron James’ SpringHill Company and Big Sea Entertainment, Kwame’s production company where he serves as CEO and Co-founder, dedicated to creating innovative, highly original children’s and family entertainment. 

Other current projects in development at Big Sea include America’s Next Great Author, the groundbreaking reality television series for writers, and an animated series based off of the book The World of ¡Vamos! by Raúl the Third, in partnership with Sony Pictures Television – Kids (formerly known as Silvergate Media). 

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the creator and host of the Why Fathers Cry podcast, premiering September 2023, featuring conversations about love and parenting and loss, with fathers and sons.  

Additionally, Kwame regularly serves as a keynote and guest speaker at hundreds of thousands of schools, libraries, organizations and conferences around the world. He has shared his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing at events like the Chautauqua Lecture Series, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Aspen Ideas, Asheville Ideas Fest, and the Global Literacy Symposium in Ghana, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana. Most recently he was appointed the Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Writer-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution. 

His mission is to change the world, one word at a time.

2024 Schedule

Tuesday, June 18

3–6 p.m. | Registration | Poetry Makerspace

6 p.m. | Intention Setting and Mindfulness Session with Rachel Glowacki | Smith Memorial Library 

6:30 p.m. | Opening Keynote: An Evening in the Stacks with Kwame Alexander |Smith Memorial Library 

8 p.m. | Opening Reception | Smith Memorial Library 

Wednesday, June 19

7–7:30 a.m. | Align the Spine, Heart and Mind (Chair Yoga and Writing Practices) | Ballroom, Alumni Hall

7:30–8:30 a.m. | Registration | Octagon 

8:30–11:30 a.m. | Writers’ Labs 

• Poetry Lab with Nikki Grimes | Poetry Room, Alumni Hall
• Memoir Lab with Will Schwalbe | Ballroom, Alumni Hall  
• Picture Book Lab with Ann Marie Stephens | Prose Room, Alumni Hall

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | Industry Workshop: Query Letter Review with Literary Agent, Lori Kilkelly | Accepted Applicants Only 

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. | Writing Circles | Lunch on your own. 

1–2 p.m. | Panels

• Picture This: Connecting with Early Readers through Storytelling | Panel: Raul the III, Ann Marie Stephens, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Eileen Robinson (Moderator) | McKnight Hall
• The Versatility of Verse: Poets’ Roundtable | Panel: Jillian Hanesworth, Noah Falck, Kwame Alexander (Moderator) | Fletcher Hall

2:15–3:30 p.m. | Industry Workshop: Public Speaking for Authors with Kwame Alexander | Fletcher Hall

4–5 p.m. | Not All Heroes Wear Capes: The Power of Graphic Novel Storytelling | Featuring: Raul the Third, Jerry Craft, and Lori Kilkelly (Moderator) | Fletcher Hall  

5–7 p.m. | Writing Circles. | Dinner on your own. 

5:30–6:30 p.m. | Industry Workshop: Query Letter Review with Literary Agent, Lori Kilkelly | Accepted Applicants Only

7 p.m. |Everything Happens, Live: An Evening with Safiya Sinclair and Kate Bowler | Fletcher Hall | Event Open to the Public, Purchase Tickets at tickets.chq.org ($29)

Thursday, June 20

7–7:30 a.m. | Align the Spine, Heart and Mind (Chair Yoga and Writing Practices) with Rachel Glowacki | Ballroom, Alumni Hall 

8–11 a.m. | Writers’ Labs 

• Poetry Lab with Jillian Hanesworth | Poetry Room, Alumni Hall  
• Memoir Lab with Kwame Alexander | Hall of Philosophy
• Fiction for Children Lab with Kekla Magoon & Cynthia Leitich Smith | Prose Room, Alumni Hall  

11:15 a.m.–1:15 p.m. | Writing Circles | Lunch on your own.  

1:30–2:45 p.m. | Panels 

• Coming of Age: Fiction Writing for Children and Young Adults | Panel: Jerry Craft, Dee Romito, Kekla Magoon; Eileen Robinson (Moderator) | McKnight Hall 
• The Story of Us: Crafting the Memorable Memoir | Panel: Will Schwabe, Nikki Grimes, Safiya Sinclair, Charlotte Matthews (Moderator) | Fletcher Hall 

3:15–4:45 p.m. | Industry Workshop: How to Publish Your Book with The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry | McKnight Hall 

5–6 p.m. | Author Study: Indigenous Representation in Children’s Literature with Cynthia Leitich Smith and Stephine Hunt | Fletcher Hall | Event Open to the Public

6–7:30 p.m. | Writing Circles. | Dinner on your own. 

7:30–9 p.m. | Pitchapalooza | The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry | McKnight Hall | Event Open to the Public

Friday, June 21

7:45–8:30 a.m. | Summer Solstice Mindful Movement by the Lake with Rachel Glowacki | Location: Miller Park 

9–10:15 a.m. | Real Talk: Demystifying Publishing with Industry Experts | Panel: Will Schwalbe, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eileen Robinson, Kwame Alexander (Moderator) | Hall of Philosophy 

10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. | Closing Keynote: “You are not a robot. Yet.” with Kate Bowler  | Hall of Philosophy | Event Open to the Public

12:30–2 p.m. | The Chautauqua Book Fair at the Library & Bestor Plaza | Event Open to the Public 

2–5 p.m. | Writing Circles | Lunch/Dinner on your own.  

Keynotes

Opening Keynote and Reception: An Evening in the Stacks with Kwame Alexander

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 

Kwame is also the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Emmy-winning Writer of The Crossover TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023. The series was produced in partnership with LeBron James’ SpringHill Company and Big Sea Entertainment, Kwame’s production company that is dedicated to creating innovative, highly original children’s and family entertainment. Other current projects in development at Big Sea include America’s Next Great Author, the groundbreaking reality television series for writers. 

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the creator and host of the Why Fathers Cry podcast, premiering September 2023, featuring conversations about love and parenting and loss, with fathers and sons. He regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing around the world at events like the Chautauqua Lecture Series, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Aspen Ideas, and the Global Literacy Symposium in Ghana, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana. Most recently he was appointed the Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Writer-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution.  

His mission is to change the world, one word at a time. 

Everything Happens, Live: An Evening with Safiya Sinclair and Kate Bowler

SAFIYA SINCLAIR was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the memoir How to Say Babylon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Washington Post Top 10 Book of 2023, one of The Atlantic’s 10 Best Books of 2023, a TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2023, a Read with Jenna/TODAY Show Book Club pick, and one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2023. How to Say Babylon was also named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, and Barnes & Noble, among others, and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year. The audiobook of How to Say Babylon was named a Best Audiobook of the Year by Audible and AudioFile magazine. 

She is also the author of the poetry collection Cannibal, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry. Cannibal was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Notable Books of the Year, and was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Seamus Heaney First Book Award in the UK, and was longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize.  

Sinclair’s other honors include a Pushcart Prize, fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, MacDowell, Yaddo, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Nation, Poetry, Kenyon Review, the Oxford American, and elsewhere. She is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Arizona State University. 

Closing Keynote Lecture: “You are not a robot. Yet.” with Kate Bowler

In the face of AI, we have never felt more necessary and more useless as writers. But our authenticity is the lifeblood of creativity. In this lecture, historian Kate Bowler reflects on the contested modern history of what it means to be authentic. As we develop our voices as writers and thinkers, we are doing something unimaginably vital: we are becoming human.

KATE BOWLER, PhD is a three time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and an Associate Professor of American Religious History at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. In her twenties, she became obsessed with writing the first history of the movement called the “prosperity gospel”—which promises that God will reward you with health and wealth if you have the right kind of faith. She researched and traveled across Canada and the United States interviewing megachurch leaders and televangelists and everyday believers about how they make spiritual meaning out of the good and bad in their lives. The result was the book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, which received widespread media attention and a lot of puns about being #blessed.  

At age 35, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, causing her to think in different terms about the research and beliefs she had been studying. She penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), which tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character. 

Her third book, The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities follows the rise of celebrity Christian women in American evangelicalism. Whether they stand alone or beside their husbands, they are leading women who play many parts: faithful wife, spiritual authority, and Hollywood celebrity. 

On her popular podcast, Everything Happens, Kate speaks with people like Malcolm Gladwell, Beth Moore, Archbishop of Cantebury Justin Welby,  and Anne Lamott about what wisdom and truth they’ve uncovered during difficult circumstances.  

In her bestselling memoir, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear), Kate grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with limitations in a culture that promises anything is possible. 

Kate has also written a devotional with her producer, Jessica Richie, which is called Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. In this book, she takes what she has learned about our self-help-obsessed culture and written reflections on what it would mean to embrace our imperfect, good enough lives.  Kate and Jessica’s latest book  is called The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. In this book of blessings, they continue to focus on gratitude and hope while acknowledging our messy and imperfect lives.  

Kate’s work has received wide-spread media attention from The Today Show, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. Her TED talk has been viewed more than 10 million times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family, and continues to teach do-gooders of all kinds. 

Faculty

Memoir Master Classes

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 

Kwame is also the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Emmy-winning Writer of The Crossover TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023. The series was produced in partnership with LeBron James’ SpringHill Company and Big Sea Entertainment, Kwame’s production company that is dedicated to creating innovative, highly original children’s and family entertainment. Other current projects in development at Big Sea include America’s Next Great Author, the groundbreaking reality television series for writers.  

A regular contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition, Kwame is the creator and host of the Why Fathers Cry podcast, premiering September 2023, featuring conversations about love and parenting and loss, with fathers and sons. He regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing around the world at events like the Chautauqua Lecture Series, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Aspen Ideas, and the Global Literacy Symposium in Ghana, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana. Most recently he was appointed the Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Writer-in-Residence at the Chautauqua Institution.  

His mission is to change the world, one word at a time.   

Study the craft of writing memoir (and spilling your tea) with Kwame Alexander. In this interactive session, Kwame will share techniques for getting to the heart of your story, including what makes a life memoir-worthy, where to begin and end, different formats to consider, establishing a distinctive voice, creating an emotional journey, and how to bring the truth to the page.

WILL SCHWALBE is the author of The End of Your Life Book Club, which was a #1 Indie Next pick, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year, and spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He has worked in digital media; in book publishing; and as a journalist, writing for various publications, including the New York Times and the South China Morning Post. He is also the author of Send (co-written with David Shipley) and Books for Living. His most recent book, We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship, was published in February 2023. Will lives in New York City. 

New York Times bestselling author and editor Will Schwalbe shares advice on structure, narrative strategies (including how to create suspense), and the often-thorny topic of writing about family and friends. The talk includes stories from his own work and books he’s edited — and ends with dozens of practical tips for everything from getting started to finding your readership.

Poetry Master Classes

NIKKI GRIMES is a New York Times bestselling author who was inducted into the Black Authors Hall of Fame in 2023. Her honors include the CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for significant contributions to young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Author of the Coretta Scott King Award-winner Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Author Honors, she won the Printz Honor and Sibert Honor for her memoir Ordinary Hazards. Her latest titles include Garvey’s Choice:The Graphic Novel, a School Library Journal 2023 Best Book; Lullaby for the King, one of Book Riot’s 25 Best Christmas Books of All Time; and A Walk in the Woods, recipient of 8 starred reviews, and 11 Best Book listings for 2023, including the New York Times, NPR, and Smithsonian Magazine. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.  

Join award-winning writer, Nikki Grimes, in this Master Class taking students outside of their free-verse comfort zone by exploring tanka and golden shovel poetry. This Master Class will focus on narrative verse as a storytelling tool, an art applicable to crafting novels in verse, memoir in verse, and nonfiction in verse. We’ll also experiment with word play, tanka, and a style similar to renga—linked poems—to create short passages of text in verse.

JILLIAN HANESWORTH is an EMMY nominated spoken word artist, the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Buffalo, New York and a community organizer and activist. Jillian was born and raised on the east side of Buffalo where she developed a vision to use art and advocacy to help her community reimagine justice and work together to create a system where all people can thrive. 

Currently, Jillian travels the country performing poetry and speaking on various topics including; art for activism, the impacts of storytelling and the importance of honest and critical social and political conversations. In addition, Jillian oversees “Buffalo Books”, a nationally recognized program which aims to improve access to culturally relevant books for residents of the east side of Buffalo with the hopes of helping to increase literacy rates among Black and brown communities. 

Join Buffalo Poet Laureate and Emmy award-winning writer, Jillian Hanesworth, to learn how to write for social change, build a community narrative and challenge listeners to think honestly and critically about the changes we need to create a just society.

Children’s Literature & Picture Book Master Classes

ANN MARIE STEPHENS is a former award-winning elementary teacher and mentor with over 30 years in the classroom. While teaching, she received several grants for her inventive literacy projects. She’s taught dozens of original writing and education-based workshops. Now she is a full-time picture book author and seasoned presenter for both children and adults. Her books have been featured on lists such as, Fuse #8 and Children’s Book Council, Hot Off the Press. She was once a guest on NPR to talk about poetry in the classroom and was a writer for a community poem featured in Bon Appetite magazine. She was a contributing author for Kwame Alexander’s The Write Thing, and a co-writer for Scholastic’s Trait Crate Plus for third and fifth grade. She is a member of SCBWI and is represented by Emily Mitchell at Wernick & Pratt Agency. She lives in Virginia with her partner Scott, and their yard full of chipmunks and some nosy raccoons.

Plotting Your Picture Book: From the first line to the last word, discover techniques for plotting out your picture book. We will discuss tips on how to leave room for the illustrator and find ways to choose the most irresistible words. Learn quick and creative methods to help you polish off your picture book.

KEKLA MAGOON is the renowned author of numerous fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers. She has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the John Steptoe New Talent Award, an NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and four Coretta Scott King Honors, among other accolades. Kekla Magoon lives in Montpelier, Vermont, and teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH (Muscogee citizen) is an acclaimed NYTimes bestselling author, the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, an American Indian Youth Literature Award winner, and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Cynthia is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins, and was the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program. 

Join bestselling authors Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith for a deep dive into character creation and story structure. Stories have the most meaning when readers care about the people at the heart of the narrative. Drawing on the model of their acclaimed new character-driven series THE BLUE STARS, this interactive workshop will offer exercises, advice, tips and tricks to help you master the craft of bringing character to life on the page.

Special Events

Not All Heroes Wear Capes: The Power of Graphic Novel Storytelling: Featuring Jerry Craft and Raúl the Third

JERRY CRAFT is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip.  New Kid is the only book in history to win the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature (2020); the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature (2019), and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for the most outstanding work by an African American writer (2020). Jerry was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City and now travels the world telling kids and their families about the importance of reading. 

RAÚL THE THIRD is a New York Times bestselling and three-time Pura Belpre award-winning illustrator, author, and artist living in Boston. Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge was awarded one of the year’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2021 from the New York Times and the New York Public Library. His work centers around the contemporary Mexican-American experience and his memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  

Author Study: Indigenous Representation in Children’s Literature: Featuring Cynthia Leitich Smith with Stephine Hunt

CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH (Muscogee citizen) is an acclaimed NYTimes bestselling author, the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, an American Indian Youth Literature Award winner, and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Cynthia is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins, and was the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program. 

Pitchapalooza with Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, aka: The Book Doctors

Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler). Twenty writers will be selected at random to pitch their book. Each writer gets one minute—and only one minute! Dozens of writers have gone from talented amateurs to professionally-published authors as a result of participating in Pitchapalooza, including Raul the Third, Ylonda Gault, Stacy McAnulty, Judith Fertig, Gloria Chao, Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu.

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company that is the go-to resource for everything you need to write, sell and market your book successfully. Their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, is in its third edition and has sold over 100,000 copies. David and Arielle are the authors of over 25 books combined and have appeared in, among others, NPR’s Morning Edition, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and People Magazine. They have taught workshops at Stanford University, the Miami Book Festival and hundreds of other institutions, conferences and festivals. They are also the co-creators, with Kwame Alexander, of America’s Next Great Author.

Arielle is the author of ten books including The Secret Language of Color. She is an agent-at-large at the Levine Greenberg Rostan 
Literary Agency, where for almost 30 years, she has been helping hundreds of talented writers become published authors. Arielle also co-founded the iconic company, LittleMissMatched, and grew it from a tiny operation into a leading national brand, with stores from coast to coast, everywhere from Disney World to Fifth Avenue in New York City.

David is the bestselling author of 16 books on a wide variety of subjects, from memoir to middle grade fiction, sports to reference. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages, optioned by Hollywood, and appeared on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, among numerous other publications. Before writing professionally, David was a comic and an actor. His one man show, based on his memoir, Chicken, was named the number one show in the United Kingdom for its entire run at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, Fringe by The Independent.

Intention Setting, Mindfulness, and Meditation Coach

Rachel Glowacki is an author, mindful movement educator, creative writer, and Co-founder of Move With Me Books, an innovative new literacy program. She is celebrated as the award-winning author of the Kids Yogaverse storybook app and a sought-after thought leader in children’s yoga. Rachel specializes in mindful movement for all ages and abilities, using a research-backed approach that teaches that a calm brain is a learning brain, and a healthy body is a happy body. . Her work has been featured in Well Magazine, MindBodyGreen, Elephant Journal, 101 Words and more. When she is not teaching, Rachel works on her next book while living with her husband and two sons in Eagle, CO.
www.rachelglowacki.com | movewithmebooks.com

Panels

The Versatility of Verse: Poets’ Roundtable

Panel: Jillian Hanesworth, Noah Falck, Michael Salinger, Kwame Alexander (Moderator)

NOAH FALCK is the author of Exclusions (finalist for the 2020 Believer Book Award), as well as several other collections, including normal normal, You Are In Nearly Every Future, and the co-authored collection Prerecorded Weather (winner of the 2022 James Tate Poetry Prize). His poems have been published in The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, Poetry Daily, Poets.org and anthologized in Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion. In 2013, he started the Silo City Reading Series, a multimedia poetry event series that takes place inside a 120-foot-high, 100-year-old abandoned grain silo. He works as Literary Director at Just Buffalo Literary Center and lives in Buffalo, New York. 

JILLIAN HANESWORTH is an EMMY nominated spoken word artist, the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Buffalo, New York and a community organizer and activist. Jillian was born and raised on the east side of Buffalo where she developed a vision to use art and advocacy to help her community reimagine justice and work together to create a system where all people can thrive. 

Currently, Jillian travels the country performing poetry and speaking on various topics including; art for activism, the impacts of storytelling and the importance of honest and critical social and political conversations. In addition, Jillian oversees “Buffalo Books”, a nationally recognized program which aims to improve access to culturally relevant books for residents of the east side of Buffalo with the hopes of helping to increase literacy rates among Black and brown communities. 

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 

Picture This: Connecting with Early Readers through Storytelling

Panel: Raul the III, Ann Marie Stephens, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater; Sara Holbrook (Moderator)

AMY LUDWIG VANDERWATER is author of books for children and teachers including: Forest Has a Song, With My Hands, Write! Write! Write!, Poems are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All  Genres, That Missing Feeling, If This Bird Had Pockets, and most recently, The Sound of Kindness. A former classroom teacher, she has taught writing for over twenty years and lives online at The Poem Farm, a poetry and mini lesson blog which began as a daily poem writing practice in 2010. In addition to reading and poem-ing, Amy loves knitting socks, baking cookies, reading magical realism, and making all kinds of jam at her whimsical old farmhouse in Western New York. Her next book, a free verse story for children, is titled John and Betsy. 

ANN MARIE STEPHENS is a former award-winning elementary teacher and mentor with over 30 years in the classroom. While teaching, she received several grants for her inventive literacy projects. She’s taught dozens of original writing and education-based workshops. Now she is a full-time picture book author and seasoned presenter for both children and adults. Her books have been featured on lists such as, Fuse #8 and Children’s Book Council, Hot Off the Press. She was once a guest on NPR to talk about poetry in the classroom and was a writer for a community poem featured in Bon Appetite magazine. She was a contributing author for Kwame Alexander’s The Write Thing, and a co-writer for Scholastic’s Trait Crate Plus for third and fifth grade. She is a member of SCBWI and is represented by Emily Mitchell at Wernick & Pratt Agency. She lives in Virginia with her partner Scott, and their yard full of chipmunks and some nosy raccoons.

RAÚL THE THIRD is a New York Times bestselling and three-time Pura Belpre award-winning illustrator, author, and artist living in Boston. Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge was awarded one of the year’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2021 from the New York Times and the New York Public Library. His work centers around the contemporary Mexican-American experience and his memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  

EILEEN ROBINSON has worked in children’s publishing close to 30 years and is still in love with creating children’s books, and helping authors gain confidence in telling their stories. She published in-house for Scholastic and Harcourt, and in 2019 helped build and launch Reycraft Books children’s imprint under Benchmark Education. As an entrepreneur and independent publisher, her company Move Books strove to get reluctant middle-graders (especially boys) back into reading. This mission was embraced by Charlesbridge Publishing in October 2022 when they acquired Move Books as a new imprint (now Charlesbridge Moves) and she came on as Editorial Director. She also teaches for Highlights and mentors young writers and future publishers in underserved communities. 

Coming of Age: Fiction Writing for Children and Young Adults

Panel: Jerry Craft, Dee Romito, Kekla Magoon; Eileen Robinson (Moderator)

DEE ROMITO is an author of fiction and nonfiction books for young readers from picture books to middle grade. (She likes variety!) She is also Co-founder of the Buffalo-Niagara Children’s Writer’s and Illustrators. Her books have received starred reviews, a Crystal Kite Award, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. They have also been featured in book fairs, book clubs, and Literati boxes. Dee lives in her hometown of Buffalo, New York where you’ll likely find her sipping from stainless steel straws as she researches strong women in history and ways to protect our planet. She’s certain each one of us can make a difference in the world and writes books to prove it. You can visit her website at deeromito.com 

JERRY CRAFT is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip.  New Kid is the only book in history to win the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature (2020); the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature (2019), and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for the most outstanding work by an African American writer (2020). Jerry was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City and now travels the world telling kids and their families about the importance of reading. 

KEKLA MAGOON is the renowned author of numerous fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers. She has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the John Steptoe New Talent Award, an NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and four Coretta Scott King Honors, among other accolades. Kekla Magoon lives in Montpelier, Vermont, and teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

EILEEN ROBINSON has worked in children’s publishing close to 30 years and is still in love with creating children’s books, and helping authors gain confidence in telling their stories. She published in-house for Scholastic and Harcourt, and in 2019 helped build and launch Reycraft Books children’s imprint under Benchmark Education. As an entrepreneur and independent publisher, her company Move Books strove to get reluctant middle-graders (especially boys) back into reading. This mission was embraced by Charlesbridge Publishing in October 2022 when they acquired Move Books as a new imprint (now Charlesbridge Moves) and she came on as Editorial Director. She also teaches for Highlights and mentors young writers and future publishers in underserved communities. 

The Story of Us: Crafting the Memorable Memoir

Panel: Will Schwabe, Nikki Grimes, Safiya Sinclair, Charlotte Matthews (Moderator)

CHARLOTTE MATTHEWS is author of five poetry collections, a novel, and a memoir, Comes with Furniture and People (finalist Indie Awards finalist Women’s Issues). Associate Professor at The University of Virginia, she is the recipient of the Adele F. Roberts Award for Excellence in Teaching. A veteran Chautauqua writer-in-residence, she is committed to helping others recognize the power of their own voices and stories. 

SAFIYA SINCLAIR was born and raised in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She is the author of the memoir How to Say Babylon, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Washington Post Top 10 Book of 2023, one of The Atlantic’s 10 Best Books of 2023, a TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2023, a Read with Jenna/TODAY Show Book Club pick, and one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2023. How to Say Babylon was also named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, and Barnes & Noble, among others, and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year. The audiobook of How to Say Babylon was named a Best Audiobook of the Year by Audible and AudioFile magazine. 

WILL SCHWALBE is the author of The End of Your Life Book Club, which was a #1 Indie Next pick, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year, and spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He has worked in digital media; in book publishing; and as a journalist, writing for various publications, including the New York Times and the South China Morning Post. He is also the author of Send (co-written with David Shipley) and Books for Living. His most recent book, We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship, was published in February 2023. Will lives in New York City. 

NIKKI GRIMES is a New York Times bestselling author who was inducted into the Black Authors Hall of Fame in 2023. Her honors include the CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for significant contributions to young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Author of the Coretta Scott King Award-winner Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Author Honors, she won the Printz Honor and Sibert Honor for her memoir Ordinary Hazards. Her latest titles include Garvey’s Choice:The Graphic Novel, a School Library Journal 2023 Best Book; Lullaby for the King, one of Book Riot’s 25 Best Christmas Books of All Time; and A Walk in the Woods, recipient of 8 starred reviews, and 11 Best Book listings for 2023, including the New York Times, NPR, and Smithsonian Magazine. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.  

Real Talk: Demystifying Publishing with Industry Experts

Panel: Will Schwalbe, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eileen Robinson, Kwame Alexander (Moderator)

WILL SCHWALBE is the author of The End of Your Life Book Club, which was a #1 Indie Next pick, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year, and spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He has worked in digital media; in book publishing; and as a journalist, writing for various publications, including the New York Times and the South China Morning Post. He is also the author of Send (co-written with David Shipley) and Books for Living. His most recent book, We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship, was published in February 2023. Will lives in New York City. 

CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH (Muscogee citizen) is an acclaimed NYTimes bestselling author, the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, an American Indian Youth Literature Award winner, and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Cynthia is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins, and was the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program. 

EILEEN ROBINSON has worked in children’s publishing close to 30 years and is still in love with creating children’s books, and helping authors gain confidence in telling their stories. She published in-house for Scholastic and Harcourt, and in 2019 helped build and launch Reycraft Books children’s imprint under Benchmark Education. As an entrepreneur and independent publisher, her company Move Books strove to get reluctant middle-graders (especially boys) back into reading. This mission was embraced by Charlesbridge Publishing in October 2022 when they acquired Move Books as a new imprint (now Charlesbridge Moves) and she came on as Editorial Director. She also teaches for Highlights and mentors young writers and future publishers in underserved communities. 

KWAME ALEXANDER is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, including This is the Honey, Why Fathers Cry at Night, An American Story, The Door of No Return, Becoming Muhammad Ali (co-authored with James Patterson), Rebound, which was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Carnegie Medal, and The Undefeated, the National Book Award nominee, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Medal-winning picture book illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 

Industry Workshops

Industry Workshop: How to Get Published… Successfully with The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry

It’s the greatest time in history to be a writer. There are more ways to get published than ever before. With so many options, there’s bound to be confusion. This workshop will take you through the four primary paths to publications: Traditional publishers (also known as The Big 5); Independent/university publishers (which span from large to tiny); Hybrid publishers (where the publisher and writer share costs); and Self-publishing (it’s all you). The Book Doctors will take you through the pluses and minuses of each path so that you can choose what’s best for you and your book. It’s a momentous decision that will not just help determine if and when your book gets published, but also if it is published successfully.

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company that is the go-to resource for everything you need to write, sell and market your book successfully. Their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, is in its third edition and has sold over 100,000 copies. David and Arielle are the authors of over 25 books combined and have appeared in, among others, NPR’s Morning Edition, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and People Magazine. They have taught workshops at Stanford University, the Miami Book Festival and hundreds of other institutions, conferences and festivals. They are also the co-creators, with Kwame Alexander, of America’s Next Great Author.

Arielle is the author of ten books including The Secret Language of Color. She is an agent-at-large at the Levine Greenberg Rostan 
Literary Agency, where for almost 30 years, she has been helping hundreds of talented writers become published authors. Arielle also co-founded the iconic company, LittleMissMatched, and grew it from a tiny operation into a leading national brand, with stores from coast to coast, everywhere from Disney World to Fifth Avenue in New York City.

David is the bestselling author of 16 books on a wide variety of subjects, from memoir to middle grade fiction, sports to reference. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages, optioned by Hollywood, and appeared on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, among numerous other publications. Before writing professionally, David was a comic and an actor. His one man show, based on his memoir, Chicken, was named the number one show in the United Kingdom for its entire run at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, Fringe by The Independent.

Industry Workshop: Public Speaking for Authors with Kwame Alexander

Authors must know how to captivate audiences, but it goes beyond the written page. In this interactive workshop with Kwame Alexander, learn how to deliver with confidence at public speaking engagements that often come with the territory of being a writer. From book readings and signings to panel discussions, press interviews, and more, this workshop will provide tips, tools, and techniques to make your presentations most memorable.

Industry Workshop: Query Letter Review with Literary Agent with Lori Kilkelly

(Accepted Applicants Only)

LK Literary Agency was founded in 2018 by children’s literary agent Lori Kilkelly.  

In 2008, after a number of successful years in advertising and sales, Lori aspired to combine her talents in these areas with her personal passion for children’s literature. Ultimately, this led to her decision to pursue a career change, and she attended the post graduate program, ‘The Denver Publishing Institute’ at The University of Denver.  

Subsequently, she spent nearly a decade at boutique children’s literary agency Rodeen Literary Management, headed by Paul Rodeen—a George Nicholson protégé—and home to award-winning authors Peter Brown, Victoria Jamieson, Lauren Castillo and Ryan Higgins, among others. 

During her tenure at RLM, Lori rose through the ranks, eventually representing her own clients, and assembled a list of talented, best-selling, and award-winning authors and illustrators. Having worked independently for much of her career, she also began to lay the foundation to eventually open her own shop. Then, with the full support of Rodeen Literary, she formally announced LK Literary Agency in the fall of 2018 and was joined by all of her clients in the new endeavor. 

Now, with more than 100 books under contract and titles with every major trade publisher, she is dedicated to continue bringing meaningful, funny, informative, and moving children’s and young adult literature to market, created by an incredibly talented group of authors and illustrators.