30-Plus Authors Set to Appear at Children’s Institute Reception

To date, 32 children’s and young adult authors are scheduled to meet booksellers and autograph their latest titles on Wednesday evening, June 22, at the American Booksellers Association’s fourth ABC Children’s Institute (Ci4) Author Reception. And more authors are being added to the list on an ongoing basis. Authors who have already signed on for the reception include Laurie Halse Anderson, Mo Willems, Jay Asher, Adam Gidwitz, and Carole Boston Weatherford.

The Children’s Institute will be held from Tuesday evening, June 21, through 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, at the Wyndham Orlando Resort International in Orlando, Florida. Registration for the event, which is made possible by the support of lead sponsor Baker & Taylor with additional support from publisher sponsors large and small, opened last week and is capped at a maximum of five registrants per ABA member business.

The writers and illustrators currently scheduled to appear at the Ci4 Author Reception are:

• Laurie Halse Anderson (Ashes, Antheneum Books/Simon & Schuster)
• Jay Asher (What Light, Razorbill/Penguin Book Group)
• Kelly Barnhill (The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Algonquin Young Readers)
• Dave Barry (The Worst Night Ever, Disney-Hyperion)
• Chris Barton (Whoosh!, Charlesbridge)
• Kate Beasley (Gertie’s Leap to Greatness, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR/Macmillan)
• Robert Beatty (Serafina and the Twisted Staff, Disney-Hyperion)
• Steve Bloom (The Stand-In, Carolrhoda/Lerner Publishing Group)
• Zoraida Córdova (Labyrinth Lost, Sourcebooks Fire)
• Michael Dante DiMartino (Rebel Genius, Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan)
• Matt Forsythe (The Gold Leaf, Enchanted Lion)
• Paula Garner (Phantom Limbs, Candlewick)
• Adam Gidwitz (An Inquisitor’s Tale, Penguin Young Readers)
• Jeff Giles (The Edge of Everything, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• William Grill (The Wolves of Currumpaw, Flying Eye Books/Nobrow)
• Nadia Hashimi (One Half From the East, HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Tracey Hecht (The Nocturnals, Consortium Book Sales & Distribution)
• Ryan T. Higgins (Mother Bruce, Disney-Hyperion)
• Justine Larbalestier (My Sister Rosa, Soho Teen)
• Mike Lowery (Doodle Adventures: The Search for Slimy Space Slugs, Workman)
• Juana Medina (Juana and Lucas, Candlewick)
• Kate Messner (The Seventh Wish, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Lisa Moore (Flannery, Groundwood Books)
• Eddie Pittman (Red’s Planet, Amulet Books)
• Sarah Porter (Vassa in the Night, Tor Teen/Macmillan)
• Rachel Ruiz (When Penny Met POTUS, Capstone Young Readers)
• Christina Soontornvat (The Changelings, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky)
• James Sturm (Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World, TOON Books)
• Kevin Sylvester (Super-Duper Monster Viewer, Groundwood Books)
• Carole Boston Weatherford (Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, Albert Whitman)
• Brendan Wenzel (They All Saw a Cat, Chronicle Books)
• Mo Willems (The Thank You Book, Disney-Hyperion)

To learn more about these authors and to check for additions to the list, visit Ci4’s Speakers & Authors page.

The Children’s Institute is open to booksellers from all ABA member stores in good standing. The nonrefundable conference fee is $89 per bookseller. Booksellers at ABA member stores that did not have a Children’s Institute scholarship winner in 2014 or 2015 can apply for a Ci4 scholarship by the March 31 deadline.

Through March 31, every bookseller registration received from an ABC Children’s Group member store will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes from Ci4’s three keynote speakers:

• A Raymie Nightingale (Candlewick) c-print and a carton of mixed titles, all signed by Kate DiCamillo
• A trip to Coral Gables, Florida, for lunch with Dave Barry (The Worst Night Ever, Disney)
• A trip to Middlebury, Vermont, for lunch with Julia Alvarez and illustrator Sabra Field (Where Do They Go?, Triangle Square), followed by their book launch party and art opening

The winners will be drawn in Orlando with prizes awarded to three lucky stores. (Learn more about Ci4’s plenary and featured speakers here.)

The special ABA rate at the Wyndham Orlando Resort International is $129 plus tax (single or double occupancy, inclusive of resort fee) and is available until Thursday, May 26, or until the block is sold out. There is a $20 per night extra person charge. The rate is valid for bookings from June 18 through June 26, 2016, subject to availability. (More on the hotel and a link to reservations is available here.)

Stores not current on their ABA and/or ABC memberships can renew their dues here or contact ABA’s Member Relationship Managers.

Booksellers who are interested in serving on a Ci4 session panel, as well as anyone with questions about the institute, should contact ABC Group Manager Matthew Zoni.

Register now.