Texas Library Association 2011--Highlights

My highlights, anyway.

• Coffee with Chris Barton  (Day-Glo Brothers, Shark vs Train and the brilliant new Can I see Your I.D.?) This is one of my most pleasant traditions at TLA.

• Meeting  Dan Yaccarino
• Richard Peck HELD MY HAND!!!    Yes!!! Really!  I KNOW!
• Talked with Jack Gantos.  There will be a new Gantos book this fall and Jack has already recorded the audiobook.  He read an excerpt.  Classic Gantos!
• Visiting with Julie Lake (Galveston's Summer of the Storm)
• Talking with Don Tate (Ron's Big Mission, She Loved Baseball, Sure as Sunrise, I Am My Grandpa's Enkelin and more)

• Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith -- I could not have planned this.The second day of TLA is the day when student groups attend the conference.  Publishers hand out stacks and stacks of ARCs to them.  There is NOTHING more satisfying than watching a group of teens wandering the hall with bags, bulging with books and posters.
  
  I ended up in a lovely, extended conversation with two teens (a guy and a girl) both AVID readers, in a publisher's booth,. They are both high school seniors, English AP students, with college plans in place.  When our conversation turned to vampire books, (because it seems like it always does) I started to talk about Cynthia Leitich Smith's series as I am reading Blessed right now.  At that VERY moment, Cynthia and Greg walked RIGHT BY THE BOOTH!  I called them over and introduced them. Cynthia told them about her series and told them how to contact her.  Then the Teen Girl asked Cynthia to inscribe her favorite quote in a memory notebook she has kept since junior high and that she happened to have with her.  Teen Guy noted that he had read Smith's books but not the new Tantalize: Kieren's Story graphic novel. After Cynthia left both kids expressed their "agog-ness" at meeting her.
  
• Heard some of the best discussions on writing at the Lonestar and TAYSHAS author panels
• Just happened to choose to walk out of a door from the exhibit hall where Teresa Schauer was sitting.  I've been a cyber-friend of hers for several years and thought I  recognized her enough to have the courage to say, "Is your name Teresa ?" So, we  finally met. Schauer is the powerhouse and make-it-happen energy behind Book Trailers For All. 
  Of all the exit doors I could have chosen....

This is the kind of serendipitous magic that is the TLA Conference.

Lowlights

• Archivist extraordinaire, aka Entling no. 2, called from the exhibit hall today to report almost being obliterated at the HarperCollins booth by stampeding librarians in search of half price or free books. She said they almost capsized the booth, knocking over shelves at the booth behind it.  That brought back memories of the melé at the Little Brown booth the year Inside the Titanic (A giant Cutaway Book) was on display.  I know budgets are tight but really?

Always an adventure at TLA!

Texas Library Association Conference 2009

I spent the last three days in the company of men and women who strive daily to make information and literature available to the widest audience possible. Librarians seek to expand their patrons' horizons and supply materials and resources for them in all their endeavors. The Texas Library Association has been supporting these efforts since 1902.

The TLA exhibit hall was full of companies offering online information resources, foreign language instruction packages, library management software and library furnishings. Publishers display new fiction and nonfiction titles while authors sign books and maintain cheerful smiles for fans who queue for their few moments of face time. Apparel vendors supply garments and jewelry that promote reading and librarians in sparkling rhinstones, applique or embroidery.

Gifted storytellers, musicians, authors, illustrators discuss their work in presentations that were thoughtfully prepared and shared.

I've been attending TLA for well over a decade now (good gad!) and the opportunity to visit with other librarians and connect with old friends and acquaintances is utterly refreshing and revitalizing.

Unlike a grade level teacher, school librarians are often "lone rangers" on their campus. They must constantly add new content and new lessons to their programs. Some projects repeat from year to year but there are always new stories to share and new technologies to add their students' information skills.

I know budgets are tight and schedules are full but I find the benefits of attending this conference are worth sacrifices. It contributes to my growth as a professional and to my sense of belonging to a community that is truly committed to a noble purpose.

Why I Love the TLA Annual Conference

OK, must leave early, early Tuesday morning to get there in time.

Just received this notice from the Young Adult Roundtable about upcoming TLA conference:

Tuesday afternoon, April 15

At 2:00-3:50pm, Texas author Rick Riordan will moderate the panel,

STRONG VOICES, OTHER WORLDS: YA FANTASY AUTHORS, featuring John Flanagan, Cinda Williams Chima, Jacqueline Kolosov, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins.

Swoon!

Star-Lit: a Children's Literature Festival

The Star-Lit Children's Literature Festival has been an annual event in the Dallas area since 2003. Proceeds from from the one day event benefit the Dallas Bethlehem Center. Breakfast with the Authors tickets are $30 but the rest of the day's events are free to the public this year. If that were not reason enough to attend, uber-blogger, Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith are among the authors and illustrators presenting this year.

I have dreams of attending this and the Texas Book Festival every year but events on the home front seem to always conflict. Maybe this will be my lucky year?

Cynthia will also be presenting at the 2007 National Book Festival in Washington D.C. this year. The Mercer Mayer's poster is beautiful. I picked up a copy of last year's poster at the Library of Congress in May. These would be so interesting to collect.