Richard Peck and me.
I’ve been busy. In the past two weeks, I was off to New York and Texas and back again. Today I found the time write something about my time in Austin, a fabulous city. The Texas Library Association is one of the largest in the US and their annual conference is a tsunami of children’s literature – and so an honour to attend.
While there, I met all kinds of superstars, ones I rarely bump into in Toronto—or, for that matter, in the lobbies of posh hotels overlooking the Colorado River. TO wit: The very prolific David Levithan was there; this year’s Newberry winner, Rebecca Stead, who was lovely; Richard Peck; Margo Rabb, Ally Condie, Tim Wynne-Jones, and many others. (Technically, yes, you do see Tim Wynne-Jones in Toronto, but he was the exception that proves…et cetera, et cetera.)
With Ally Condie and Gayle Forman in the back of a very bumpy cab ride.
Gayle Forman and I did a meet-and-greet thingie with a bunch of teenagers who were given free-range of the conference hall on “teen day.” (Massive thanks to Gayle, by the way. Great fun working with you and hope we get a chance to do it again!)
On the final day of the conference, I sat on a “Poetry Round-Up” panel, along with some of the best children’s poets around: Calef Brown, Julia Durango, Margarita Engle, Helen Frost, Kristine O’Connell George, Marilyn Singer, and Lisa Wheeler. Here we are:
A bunch of poets and a chicken fried steak.
Thanks to the TLA, the city of Austin, Sylvia Vardell, who organized the Poetry Round-Up, and the amazing people at Penguin USA—Scottie, RasShahn and Christina—for the organization that went into so many events.
The city’s unofficial slogan is “Keep Austin Weird”. Incidentally.