 Dr. Kip Wilson | Dr. Kip Wilson, Library Technician @ Concord-Carlisle High School How I worked with the public library to plan a Young Adult Author Symposium, free and open to all this November. Young Adult Author Symposium will take place on Saturday, November 16, 2024 10am-2pm at Concord-Carlisle High School |
Libraries and Authors: A Winning Combination
Some of you may fondly remember the fabulous and wildly popular Boston Teen Author Fest, which was held annually at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Cambridge Public Library for several years. As an aspiring YA author myself back in the day, I was most definitely a fan - I’d even hoped to be part of the festival one day myself if I ever got published. I loved the way the festival connected authors, readers, and the library in a trifecta of awesomeness.
Some of you may fondly remember the fabulous and wildly popular Boston Teen Author Fest, which was held annually at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Cambridge Public Library for several years. As an aspiring YA author myself back in the day, I was most definitely a fan - I’d even hoped to be part of the festival one day myself if I ever got published. I loved the way the festival connected authors, readers, and the library in a trifecta of awesomeness.
Unfortunately, by the time I was published, the BTAF was no more. However, there were still some other great opportunities, one of which I’ve attended a few times now as an author (the Thurston Middle School Writers’ Conference in Westwood, MA). This event brings authors and students together in the Thurston Middle School library and classrooms during the school day for a series of writing workshops.
With these beloved programs in mind, once I started my school library career, I hoped to have a hand in something similar. When I began working at the Concord-Carlisle High School library, head librarian Robin Cicchetti encouraged me to work with the likewise new Teen Librarian, Erick Gordy, at the Concord Free Public Library to see if we could pull something like these programs together.
 | We began our planning in the fall of 2023 for the Young Adult Author Symposium (YAAS), which we’re launching this fall. A year of planning might sound like overkill, but we needed the lead time for writing grant proposals, figuring out permissions to use spaces, commissioning student artwork, and ordering swag. Probably not surprisingly, my favorite part has been reaching out to authors to see if they could attend. |
In the end, we’re able to offer up two distinct programs:
- Writing workshops during the school day for 10 separate CCHS English classes featuring these fabulous authors (with support from a Concord Education Fund grant):
- The Young Adult Author Symposium on Saturday, 11/16, featuring 12 local authors: Rebecca Caprara, Federico Erebia, Sara Farizan, Desmond Hall, Kendall Kulper, Rajani LaRocca, Vanessa Lillie, Rebecca Mahoney, Marcella Pixley, Lisa Stringfellow, Susan Tan, Jonathan Todd.
| YAAS will take place on Saturday, November 16, 2024 10am-2pm at Concord-Carlisle High School
|  |
We hope to be able to run the festival again (hopefully with even more authors and programming) in coming years, but we need your help making it a success by getting the word out to your school communities. Please encourage your students to register and attend!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about launching your own author program at your school library, and good luck!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about launching your own author program at your school library, and good luck!
