ALA by the Bay
Fog City Reads
Literary Landmarks
A Taste of San Francisco
Authors & Celebrities
PopTop Stage events
Located on the exhibit floor, the stage will feature readings, discussions, and presentations over the course of the exhibits on such topics as fiction, diversity, narration, children’s books, activism, storytelling, mystery, poetry, and romance, to name a few. For the full schedule go here.
THURSDAY, JUNE 25
All-Day Book Buzz
8 a.m.–5 p.m. The Association of American Publishers (AAP). San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium, Lower Level, 100 Larkin Street. Children’s and teen titles in the morning, adults in the afternoon, from a boatload of publishers.
FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Roberta Kaplan (Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA)
4–5:15 p.m. Opening General Session. Hear how “the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was defeated, how laws get overturned, and how change is made legally.”
Jessie Ann Foley (honor, The Carnival at Bray) Jenny Hubbard (honor, And We Stay) Jandy Nelson (winner, I’ll Give You the Sun) Andrew Smith (honor, Grasshopper Jungle) Mariko Tamaki & illustrator Jillian Tamaki (honor, This One Summer)
8–10 p.m. Booklist and YALSA. The Michael L. Printz Program and Reception for the best writing in young adult literature. Ticketed event.
Kopp photo by Leslie Culver; Sherman photo by Emrah Gurel; Crabb photo by Julia Gillard; Poundstone photo ©2012 Michael Schwartz; Thomson photo by Jillian Kalonick; Katzenbach photo by Nancy Doherty
SATURDAY, JUNE 27
8–10 a.m. “Now Showing @ ALA Film Program” offers a variety of films and documentaries throughout the day, Saturday through Monday. Many offer a chance to meet the writers, directors, or subjects. This year’s fare includes docs Regarding Susan Sontag and The Homestretch. For the full schedule go to ow.ly/MGO26.
Gloria Steinem (Diary of a Nomad: My Life on the Road)
8:30–9:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. Hear from everyone’s favorite feminist.
Charles Belfoure (House of Thieves) Anthony Marra (The Tsar of Love and Techno) Celeste Ng (Everything I Never Told You) Nnedi Okorafor (Lagoon) Stacy Schiff (The Witches) Brigid Schulte (Overwhelmed)
8:30–10 a.m. The Association of American Publishers and LibraryReads’ 2015 Book-a-Licious Breakfast. Marriott Marquis San Francisco (Golden Gate B). With the success of LibraryReads comes a whole slew of authors and titles to follow. Signing, too. Register by June 19.
Al Roker (The Today Show)
8:30–10 a.m. PLA Member Welcome Breakfast. Recognizing 15 individuals and libraries deserving special accolades this year, including Scott Bonner, director, Ferguson Public Library, MO.
Haifaa al-Mansour (film, Wadjda; novel, The Green Bicycle)
10:30–11:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. Hear the award-winning Saudi Arabian film director and screenwriter. Wadjda will be screened during the conference as well.
Mira Grant (Chimera) Stephanie Kuehn (Delicate Monsters) Catherine Linka (A Girl Undone) Amy Lukavics (Daughters unto Devils)
10:30–11:30 a.m. United for Libraries. Zombies, Vampires, and Spooks—Oh, My! A panel of popular authors who write about the supernatural will discuss their books. Signed copies available following the program. LJ Prepub Alert editor Barbara Hoffert will bravely moderate.
Sharon M. Draper (Stella by Starlight)
10:30 a.m.–noon. YALSA and School Library Journal. Margaret A. Edwards Brunch. The award honors significant and lasting contributions to writing for teens.
Sarah Vowell (Lafayette in the Somewhat United States)
noon–1 p.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. History and culture wonk Vowell on a Revolutionary War hero.
To be determined
12:30–1:30 p.m. Bookmobile Saturday Author Luncheon. Join the bookmobile and library outreach community for lunch with a noted author and an opportunity to socialize and network. Don’t we all love surprises?
Clara Bensen (No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering) Robert Dawson (The Public Library: A Photographic Essay) Shannon Kopp (Pound for Pound: How Rescue Dogs Rescued Me) January LaVoy & Marc Thompson (audiobook narrators, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars) Michelle Tea (How To Grow Up)
1–2:30 p.m. United for Libraries. Beyond Genre. A panel of authors who have stepped around, through, and outside of the box talk about their wonderfully offbeat subjects. Signing to follow. LJ’s Barbara Hoffert will step inside to moderate.
Greg Bear (War Dogs) Marie Brennan (Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent) Larry Correia (Monster Hunter Nemesis) John Scalzi (The End of All Things) Vernor Vinge (After the Battle on Starship Hill)
1–2:30. LITA. Unknown Knowns and Known Unknowns: How Speculative Fiction Gets Technological Innovation Right and Wrong. Sf often has a predictive value yet often overlooks the small things. A panel of top sf/fantasy authors will consider the role speculative fiction plays in fostering innovation and bringing about new ideas.
Children’s & Teen Author Speed Dating Event
3–4 p.m. AAP Children’s Library Marketing Committee. Come to the Marriott Marquis San Francisco (Golden Gate B). More authors than you can shake an iPad at. Sign up here.
Nick Offerman (Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers)
3:30–4:30 p.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. The actor and humorist is a lifelong reader and comes from a family of librarians. A natural for this conference.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, keynote (with Anna Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes) Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See) Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History) Chang-rae Lee (On Such a Full Sea) Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption) Colm Tóibín (Nora Webster) Lawrence Wright (Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David)
8–10 p.m. Booklist and RUSA. The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Announcement and Reception. Which titles will get the nod this year?
SUNDAY, June 28
Kwame Alexander (honor, The Crossover) Kekla Magoon (honor, How It Went Down) Frank Morrison & Katheryn Russell-Brown (honor, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone) Christopher Myers & Misty Copeland (illustrator award, Firebird) Marilyn Nelson (honor, How I Discovered Poetry) Christian Robinson & Patricia Hruby Powell (honor, Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker) Deborah D. Taylor (Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award) Jacqueline Woodson (winner, Brown Girl Dreaming)
7–9:30 a.m. EMIERT. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast. Honoring the year’s best African American authors and illustrators of books for children and youth, plus the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Ticketed event.
Katherine Addison (Goblin Emperor) Amy Belding Brown (Flight of the Sparrow) Stuart Rojstaczer (The Mathematician’s Shiva) Jo Walton (My Real Children) Ashley Weaver (Murder at the Brightwell)
8–10 a.m. RUSA. Literary Tastes. Listen to some of the year’s best authors discuss their work while enjoying the company of other book lovers. Book signing to follow light refreshments and a deep chat on writing.
Val Brelinski (The Girl Who Slept with God) Andrew Roe (The Miracle Girl) Scott Sherman (Patience and Fortitude: Power, Real Estate, and the Fight To Save a Public Library) Kim van Alkemade (Orphan Number 8)
1–2 p.m. United for Libraries. First Author, First Book. Debut authors hold a special power to engage, as they entice readers with their risk-taking. Hear from the stars of tomorrow, as led by LJ’s not-first-time moderator Barbara Hoffert.
Book Talk with Al Kagan (Progressive Library Organizations: A Worldwide History)
1–2 p.m. SRRT. Professor of library administration and the African Studies bibliographer at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, talks libraries.
Marjorie Agosín (I Lived on Butterfly Hill) Yuyi Morales (illustrator award, Viva Frida)
1–3 p.m. The 2015 Pura Belpré Award Celebración. Join ALSC and REFORMA in celebrating the 2015 Pura Belpré Medal winners and honorees for a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Alma Flor Ada (The Three Golden Oranges) F. Isabel Campoy (Poesia eres tu) Rebecca Kai Dotlich (All Aboard!) Betsy Franco (Naked) Nikki Grimes (Words with Wings) Marilyn Nelson (How I Discovered Poetry) Marilyn Singer (Tallulah’s Tap Shoes)
3–4 p.m. Poetry Blast 2015. Featuring a diverse group of poets who will read from new or forthcoming works for kids and teens. Held at the Pop Top Stage; hosted by Marilyn Singer and LJ’s Barbara A. Genco.
Sarah Lewis (The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure and the Search for Mastery)
3:30–4:30 p.m. ALA President’s Program and ALA Awards Presentations. Critic, writer, and “cultural powerhouse” Lewis as she celebrates creativity.
David Crabb (Bad Kid) Mamrie Hart (You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery) Aaron Karo (Galgorithm) Alexandra Petri (A Field Guide to Awkward Silences) Paula Poundstone (I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Boston) Charlyne Yi (Oh the Moon)
5:30–7:30 p.m. United for Libraries. The Laugh’s on Us. Sponsored by SAGE. This annual wine-and-cheese event features headliner and United for Libraries spokesperson Paula Poundstone and a collection of very funny people. Book signing to follow. Buy tickets early: $65. Event code: UNI1. (The joke’s on them; Barbara Hoffert isn’t emceeing.)
MONDAY, June 29
Joshua Davis (writer) and Rick Jacobs (producer) (Spare Parts) David Thomson (How To Watch a Movie)
8:30–9:30 a.m. United for Libraries President’s Program; Auditorium Speaker Series. “From Cover to Screen: Books to Movies,” with United for Libraries president Christine Lind Hage. A fan of film as well as fiction, LJ’s Barbara Hoffert will direct. Book signing to follow.
Saeed Jones (Barbara Gitting Literature Award: Prelude to Bruise) Gayle E. Pitman, illustrator Kristyna Litten (Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award: This Day in June) Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle (Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award: Living Out Islam: Voices of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Muslims)
10 a.m.–noon. Stonewall Book Awards Program. Join the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) and award-winning authors in celebration of the very best in GLBTQ literature. Ticketed event.
Edwidge Danticat (Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation)
10:30–11:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. The award-winning author discusses the “human side of immigration and how every child has the power to make a difference.”
Cara Black (Murder on the Champ de Mars) Allison Brennan (Compulsion) John Katzenbach (The Dead Student) Keith McCafferty (Crazy Mountain Kiss) Kate White (The Wrong Man)
10:30–11:30 a.m. The AAP/LibraryReads Mystery Authors panel. The only mystery will be how you can possibly stay away. Sign up at ow.ly/MFd0s.
Sonia Manzano (Becoming Maria)
noon–1 p.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. The Emmy Award–winning writer and actress who helped revolutionize television through her work on Sesame Street.
John Katzenbach (The Dead Student) Paula McLain (Circling the Sun) Matthew Pearl (The Last Bookaneer) Sarah Pekkanen (Things You Won’t Say) B.A. Shapiro (The Muralist) Adriana Trigiani (All the Stars in the Heavens)
2–4 p.m. United for Libraries. Gala Author Tea. Sponsored by ReferenceUSA. Yummy treats and yummier authors at this conference favorite. Buy tickets early: $65. Event code: UNI2.
TUESDAY, JUNE 30
Author to be announced
9:30–11 a.m. Closing General Session. ALA still wasn’t sure at press time who was going to be the big gun saying farewell to the San Francisco meeting. Check the ALA website for more information.