This week, YA authors head to Pasadena; the Morristown Festival of Books draws a crowd; Candlewick staffers channel their inner Kate DiCamillo characters; YA nonfiction influences a theater production; author Aubre Andrus inspires readers to “change the world”; and psychologist Frank Sileo invites readers to meditate.
Feeling the Love
Fifteen YA authors and 200 guests attended the Pasadena Loves YA festival, held at Pasadena Public Library in Calif., on September 15. There were several panel discussions at the festival, including “Roads to Healing,” in which authors discussed youth mental health both in fiction and in the world. Panelists were (from l.) Carrie Arcos, Samuel Miller, Farrah Penn, and Aminah Mae Safi.
Spider-Man Knows Mermaids
The fifth annual Morristown Festival of Books was held in Morristown, N.J., on October 13. Despite the rainy weather, there were more than 8,000 attendees. Authors who spoke at the festival included Laini Taylor, Dhonielle Clayton, Kass Morgan, Ibi Zoboi, Jennifer E. Smith, Zoraida Córdova, Emily X.R. Pan, and Emmy Laybourne, while numerous other authors signed books and engaged with fans. Here, during an event with Jessica Love (Julián Is a Mermaid), an attendee (aka, Spider-Man) answers a mermaid-related question.
What a Character!
In celebration of Kate DiCamillo’s new book, Louisiana’s Way Home, the author joined Candlewick staff in their Somerville, Mass., office on October 12. In a pre-Halloween costume contest, staffers dressed as favorite DiCamillo characters, including Raymie Clarke (from Raymie Nightingale), Gollie (from Bink & Gollie), and Flora (from Flora & Ulysses).
Up for Debate
Cynthia Levinson, co-author of Fault Lines in the Constitution (Peachtree), attended a play called What the Constitution Means to Me, which concerns the impact of the Constitution on women’s rights. The play, produced at the New York Theatre Workshop, concludes with a debate between its creator, Heidi Schreck, and a teenager, Thursday Williams, an attendee at a law-focused public charter school. The topic was “Resolved: the Constitution Should Be Abolished.” Schreck and Williams consulted Levinson’s book in preparation for their debate. Here, (from l.) Heidi Schreck, Thursday Williams, and Cynthia Levinson meet up after the play.
It’s a Small World
Attendees took part in art-making activities during an event for author Aubre Andrus’s 101 Small Ways to Change the World (Lonely Planet). The event was held at Once Upon a Time bookstore in Montrose, Calif., which is the oldest children’s bookstore in the country. The book introduces small ways that readers can help protect the environment, improve their communities, and become civically engaged.
‘Bee’ Our Guest
More than 100 people attended Frank Sileo’s launch party for his picture book, Bee Still: An Invitation to Meditation (Magination Press), held at Barnes & Noble in Paramus, N.J. Joining Sileo, a professional psychologist, was a special guest bee; like bee Bentley in the book, he encouraged attendees to find calm and serenity through practicing meditation.
