New Orleans!

I’m looking forward to attending the American Library Association Annual Conference this weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana. I grew up next door, relatively speaking, but I’ve never been.

I’ll be on a panel 10:30 Saturday morning with Neal Porter, Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan, and distinguished others whom I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting. The moderator is Caroline Ward, and our theme is “Strange Bedfellows: Unusual Pairings of Artists and Writers.” See event details and the full list of participating authors, illustrators, and editors here. Then Jan, Sandra, and I will be signing Ballet for Martha at the Macmillan booth (no. 1115) from 2:00 to 3:00.

Later on Saturday I’ll be signing Moonshot and other of my Simon & Schuster titles at the S&S booth (no. 1139) from 4:00 to 5:00. (And sometime after ALA I’ll start blogging about what I’m working on now for S&S. It’s overdue. The blogging, and the book.)

On Sunday I’ll stray from the convention center to engage in some extracurricular eating, then look forward to attending the Newbery/Caldecott banquet.

Monday morning, I’ll have the pleasure of attending the ALSC Awards Presentation and joining Jan and Sandra in accepting a Sibert Honor for Ballet for Martha.

I feel as if I know an more-than-usual number of librarians, editors, publishing friends, and fellow authors and illustrators who are heading to ALA this year, and I’m looking forward to the weekend!