I, along with Mavasta Honyouti, Phoenix Ward, and Tony Weaver, Jr, were presenting authors at the event, along with the local, kid-created Jubilee Voices Publishing House<\/a><\/em>. Jubilee School students created the group when they saw a lack of properly told black history in the books they had available, so they decided to create and self-publish their own.<\/p>\n\n\n Kid power was also a focus in the fiction acted out during the Scholastic \u201cReaders Theater,\u201d where five children\u2019s lit authors performed dramatic readings from each others\u2019 novels. Stories included a girl who helps the spirits of her deceased family, a group of kids exploring the forbidden outdoors of a post-apocalyptic world, a Punjabi 12-year-old whose family is met with hatred for being interfaith, a teen athlete in the Berlin 1936 Olympics who decides to help the resistance against the Nazis, and a gay teen coping with the trauma of his mother\u2019s near-death illness. All authors\u2019 novels greatly engaged the audience, though in terms of acting, Ryan La Sala arguably stole the show, evoking raucous laughter from the audience with his highly animated performances of a grandfather ghost among other roles, and his inclusion of props like a wig and crab-themed sunglasses he brought for his fellow readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The day also saw an interview with Dr. Carla Hayden, the most recent Librarian of Congress who, last month, was abruptly fired by Donald Trump with no explanation at the time. Dr. Hayden spoke on how the administration later claimed she was \u201cputting inappropriate books in the library for children,\u201d despite the fact that the Librarian of Congress, of course, does not run a library that children use. She expressed even greater concern for how others are being affected by hers and similar sudden firings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Hayden, however, sounded anything but defeated. Her sharp, tactful answers drew both joyful laughs and roaring applause from the audience. When asked what gives her hope, she said the thousands of librarians in front of her. When asked about something as basic as her least favorite foods, she tied it back to earlier topics, saying that although she doesn\u2019t like brussel sprouts, that doesn\u2019t mean that her cohost can\u2019t eat them, because diversity is about choices. In her final question, she was asked if the word \u201clove\u201d did not exist, how would she let people know that she loved them? She answered that she would say \u201cthank you,\u201d but she is glad the word does exist. \u201cI love you, I love you,\u201d she said to the audience, who rose to cheers and applause. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n William Stieglitz<\/strong> (he\/him\/his) is a children\u2019s book author with Paw Prints Publishing<\/a> 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_6794-650x488.jpg\")
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