This past weekend, I had the pleasure of presenting with author Ashley Hope Perez at the McConnell Conference in Lexington, KY. I always enjoy this conference and this year was certainly no exception. OK, yes I was disappointed in the lack of diversity, both in terms of presenters and participants, but the librarians who attended did not hesitate in asking for titles for their students and patrons of color and in engaging in library and literary conversations. Yes, it was good to be part of the conversation about young adult lit.

No doubt, attending conferences is expensive! Living here in the Midwest, I don’t often have the opportunity to enter the varied discussions about young adult literature that take occur in places like New York and Los Angeles, but there are some more local opportunities that provide relevant opportunities.

If you’re an author, librarian or teacher in the Midwest who is looking for nearby conferences, I have the following.

(No, I don’t live anywhere Mexico City. IBBY is just the one I really want to attend.)

Northern Illinois University Children’s Literature Conference 15 March Tom Angleberger, Lisa Yee and David Lubar

Kent State University’s Virginia Hamilton Conference 4&5 April Angela Johnson, Gary Schmidt and Yuyi Morales

Children’s Literature Association Conference Biloxi MS 13-15 June

ALA Annual Chicago 27 June-2 July

Children and Young People’s Division of the Indiana Library Federation   Indianapolis  25-26 August

Indiana State Reading Association Fall Conference 29-30 September  Linda Hoyt, Cris Tovani, Barry Lane, David Greenberg

IBBY Regional Conference St. Louis, MO 18-20 October

Ohio Kentucky Indiana Children’s Literature Conference 2 Nov Candace Fleming and Steve Jenkins

IBBY Mexico 10-14 September 2014