ALA 2019
Random House Children's Books Booth #1805, Table #1
Friday, June 21
Signing 5:30-6:30 p.m.
MARK SIEGEL has written and illustrated several award-winning picture books and graphic novels, including the New York Times bestseller Sailor Twain and Oskar and the Eight Blessings. He is also the founder and editorial director of First Second Books. He lives with his family in New York. Follow Mark on Tumblr at @marksiegel and the 5 Worlds team on Twitter at @5WorldsTeam.
Saturday, June 22
Signing 9:00-10:00 a.m.
David Barclay Moore was born and raised in Missouri. After studying creative writing at Iowa State University, film at Howard University in Washington, DC, and language studies at l’Université de Montpellier in France, David moved to New York City, where he has served as communications coordinator for Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone and communications manager for Quality Services for the Autism Community. He has received grants from the Ford Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, Yaddo, and the Wellspring Foundation. He was also a semi-finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. David now lives, works, and explores in Brooklyn, NY. You can follow him online at DavidBarclayMoore.com, on Twitter at @dbarclaymoore, and on Instagram at @dbarclaymoore.
Signing 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Christopher Paul Curtis is the author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, one of the most highly acclaimed first novels for young readers in recent years. It was singled out for many awards, among them a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor, and has been a bestseller in hardcover and paperback. Christopher grew up in Flint, Michigan. After high school, he began working on the assembly line at the Fisher Body Flint Plant No. 1 while attending the Flint branch of the University of Michigan. He is now a full-time writer. He lives with his family in Detroit.
Signing 11:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
Gennifer Choldenko was the youngest in a family of four kids, where her nickname was “Snot-Nose.” Her quirky sense of humor made its debut at the dinner table when Gennifer was a very little kid. She is the author of seven children’s books, including Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period; and Al Capone Shines My Shoes.
Signing 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Matt de la Peña is the author of Last Stop on Market Street, which won the Newbery Medal and was chosen for the Caldecott Honor. He is also the author of the award-winning picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis and six critically acclaimed young adult novels. Matt teaches creative writing and visits schools and colleges throughout the country. Matt lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Signing 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Nicola Yoon is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Sun Is Also a Star and Everything, Everything, her debut novel, which was turned into a major motion picture. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn and lives in Los Angeles with her family. She’s also a hopeless romantic who firmly believes that you can fall in love in an instant and that it can last forever. Visit Nicola online at nicolayoon.com and follow @NicolaYoon on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram.
Signing 3:00-4:30 p.m.
R. J. Palacio lives in NYC with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. For more than twenty years, she was an art director and graphic designer, designing book jackets for other people while waiting for the perfect time in her life to start writing her own novel. But one day several years ago, a chance encounter with an extraordinary child in front of an ice cream store made R. J. realize that the perfect time to write that novel had finally come. Wonder is her first novel. She did not design the cover, but she sure does love it.
Sunday, June 23
Signing 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Mae Respicio grew up in Northern California and has great memories of spending childhood summers dancing in a Filipino folk-dance troupe. Mae is a past recipient of a PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellowship. She’s been a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook and Atlantic Center for the Arts and has published a variety of musings on parenthood. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area, not far from the ocean and the redwoods. This is her first novel. Visit her online at maerespicio.com and on Twitter at @maerespicio.
Signing 10:00-11:00 a.m.
April Harrison is a renowned folk artist born and currently residing in Greenville, South Carolina. Her work appears in the public collections of Vanderbilt University, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the Erskine University Museum and in many private collections. This is her first picture book. Learn more at aprilsonggallery.com.
Signing 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Kekla Magoon grew up in Indiana but wanted to see the rest of the world. Now she travels all over the country meeting young readers and sharing her books, which include The Rock and the River, Camo Girl, and Shadows of Sherwood (The Robyn Hoodlum Adventures series). She has won numerous awards for her work, including two Coretta Scott King Honors, an NAACP Image Award, and the Walter Award Honor, and inclusion on the National Book Award Long List. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she now serves on faculty. Visit her online at keklamagoon.com and you’ll see: she is anything but ordinary!
Signing 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Erica S. Perl is the author of books for young readers. Her most recent middle grade novel, All Three Stooges, won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award for Children’s Literature and received a 2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor (Silver Medal). In addition to novels, Erica writes picture books (including Chicken Butt! and Goatilocks and the Three Bears), early chapter books (the Arnold and Louise series), early readers (the Truth or Lie series) and plays (The Capybara Conspiracy: A Novel in Three Acts). She has been awarded fellowships by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), the Yiddish Book Center (TENT program), the PJ Library (Author Israel trip), and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Erica divides her time between writing and doing school visits. In 2018, she did a residency at the American International School in Lusaka, Zambia. She also supports literary organizations–including First Book, An Open Book Foundation, PEN/Faulkner’s Writers in School Program, and Turning the Page–in her hometown of Washington, DC and beyond. Erica’s family includes her husband, kids, and four pets (three well-behaved, one not so much). Her favorite foods are popcorn and stale red licorice. Her website is ericaperl.com and her social media presence is @ericaperl.
Signing 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Paul O. Zelinsky was born in Evanston, Illinois. He attended Yale University, where he took a course with Maurice Sendak, which later inspired him to pursue a career in children’s books. He went on to receive a graduate degree in painting from Tyler School of Art, in Philadelphia and Rome. His first book was published in 1978. Among many other awards and prizes, he received the 1998 Caldecott Medal for his illustrated retelling of Rapunzel, as well as Caldecott Honors for three of his books: Hansel and Gretel (1985), Rumpelstiltskin (1987), and Swamp Angel (1995). Paul Zelinsky lives in New York with his wife, Deborah.
Signing 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Emma Otheguy is the author of the picture books Martí’s Song for Freedom, which received five starred reviews, and Pope Francis: Builder of Bridges. A native and current resident of New York City, Emma is a historian of Spain and colonial Latin America. This is her first middle-grade novel. Learn more about her online at emmaotheguy.com and @emmaotheguy.
Signing 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Russell Ginns is a writer and game designer who specializes in puzzles, songs, and smart fun. He has worked on projects for a wide variety of organizations, corporations, and publications, including Sesame Workshop, Girl Scouts of America, Nintendo, and Scientific American. Russell lives and writes in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans, Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs and Samantha Spinner and the Boy in the Ball. To learn more about him, visit samanthaspinner.com and follow @rginns on Twitter.
PopTop Stage
Tough Stuff: What's Okay in Middle-Grade Books Featuring Stacy McAnulty and Melissa Sarno
Saturday, June 22, 10:00-10:50 a.m.
WNDB and Random House Children's Books Present: The Hero Next Door, Stories of Courage and Compassion Featuring Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Ronald L. Smith, Linda Sue Park, Hena Khan, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Ellen Oh
Saturday, June 22 12:00-12:50 p.m.
