The work of telling our authentic stories, and making sure those stories are protected, was given great focus at #alaac25. One Sunday panel, “GAYSSS IN COMICSSSSS: A Spotlight on LGBTQ+ Empowerment in Comics,” emphasized the important of queer stories not just about coming out, but also about joy and normalization. Panelists drew examples from newer queer characters, as well as older characters who were not necessarily designed to be queer, but who—mirroring the experiences of many from older generations—were given the chance to come out later in their fictional lives.
Another Sunday panel featured three “Cli-fi” (climate fiction) authors. They explained that Cli-fi was not so much a fixed genre to them as a it was an environmentalism focus woven into other genres, like horror and adventure, based on the inescapable relevance to the work. Meanwhile, the main stage showed comedian Roy Wood Jr. walking through his upcoming memoir The Man of Many Fathers. He spoke on both the strained relationship he had with his own dad and how he took lessons from that in his efforts to be a good parent to his own son. In particular, he wanted his son to know that even if they disagree, sharing his feelings will never get him in trouble.
The day’s biggest event, however, came in the form of the Newbery Caldecott Legacy Awards Banquet. The night saw celebrations of both the medal-winning children’s stories and the journeys of the authors and illustrators who brought them to life. Attendees came dressed in their best clothes, with some donning costumes in honor of the winning illustrators. This included red capes like in Rebecca Lee Kunz’s Chooch Helped and cowboy hats like in C.G. Esperanza’s My Daddy is a Cowboy.
The acceptance speeches carried incredibly powerful narratives of their own. Erin Entrada Kelly, who won the John Newbery Medal for The First State of Being, drew joyful laughs from the audience with her tales of anxiety based around ladybugs on the ceiling and not being able to decide what song to sing in case of needing to deter a bear attack. Her story was, simultaneously, one of her battle with cancer, and of finding meaning through a community of love. Carole Boston Weatherford, winner of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, gave an equally potent speech. She spoke of her record of writing children’s poetry and literature about the black history left untaught not just to kids, but to many adults as well. She emphasized the importance of trusting children’s intelligence in recognizing injustice and the value of teaching difficult history as a means of empowerment. She ended by singing a rendition of her upcoming book Let It Shine: A Celebration of You, based on the spiritual “This Little Light of Mine.” The audience joined her in call and response, standing and clapping with the music. Her closing words earned roaring applause from the audience: “Poetry is not what I do, it’s who I am. Mommy and Daddy, we did this.”
William Stieglitz (he/him/his) is a children’s book author with Paw Prints Publishing who also writes local journalism. This will be his first year attending ALA Annual, where he will be an EMIERT AuthorFest panelist. His upcoming early-readers, the Rachel and Abby books, center on two Jewish-American sisters as they solve the mysteries of the adult world, and take inspiration from how his own family, while celebrating Judaism in many different ways, would find the most meaning in the time they spent together. He is looking forward to meeting with and hearing the stories of others at the conference, and especially values how librarians work both to educate and to create an environment that really is for everyone.
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