Young Adult Literature Symposium

Save the date! The first-ever Young Adult Literature Symposium, funded in part by the William C. Morris Endowment, will be held November 7 – 9, 2008 in Nashville, TN. This year’s theme “How We Read Now” features a great slate of programs.

Hit List or Hot List: How Teens Read Now (Rosemary Chance and Teri Lesesne )
Inside the Authors’ Studios: Award Winners Right Out of the Gate (Lisa Wemett and Olivia Durant )
Never Enough Nonfiction (Pam Spencer Holley)
Listening to Literature (Sharon Grover and Francisca Goldsmith)
Just Keepin’ It Real: Teens Reading Out of the Mainstream, presented by Rollie Welch
Reading: It’s Not Just about Books Anymore (Linda Braun)

Thrilling Young Adults: How to Keep the Attention of Today’s Teens (Amy Alessio)
Quickest of YALSA’s Quick Picks (Diana Tixier Herald and Diane P. Monnier)
Zine-a-Paloosa 2008: Teens and Zines! (Julie Bartel)
Explaining and Exploring Fandom, Fan Life, and Participatory Culture (Liz Burns and Carlie Kraft Webber)
Beyond the Rainbow Canon: Books for LGBT Teens (Angie Miraflor and Daisy Porter)
Books between Cultures (Mitali Perkins)
Connections: YA Literature and Curriculum (Jane P. Fenn)
Teen Readers’ Advisory: How Research Informs Practice (Jessica E. Moyer)

Four papers will be presented as well:
Are You There God? It’s Me, Manga: Manga as an Extension of Young Adult Literature (Lisa Goldstein and Molly Phelan)
The Age of Blank? Connecting YA Readers to Each Other and the World (Tom Philion)
Accept the Universal Freak Show: LGBTQ Themes in Contemporary YA Literature and Incorporating Them @ your library (Angie Manfredi)
Bullies, Gangs, and Books for Young Adults (Stan Steiner)

If all this wasn’t enough for one weekend, the Symposium will kick off with a special Pre-Conference on Graphic Novels and Manga. There will also be special breakfasts, lunches and other really fun events!

Registration will begin sometime around May 1st. There will be two Symposium Scholarships- one for a practicing librarian and one for a library school student who is focusing on teen services. More details will be coming soon.

For more information, visit the Young Adult Literature Symposium website, http://www.ala.org/yalsa/yalitsymposium. A wiki will be coming soon.