2014 Colorado Teen Literature Conference

Oh my, what a busy couple of days it has been. On Thursday I helped make paper flowers for a window display - so much fun; I will write about that later. Today I want to give you a small glimpse of what the 2014 Colorado Teen Literature Conference was like. I have been part of making this conference happen for about 12 years now. Ellie also attended the conference and took wonderful photos of the all of the sessions, the speakers, etc. It was a lot of work as the the sessions were spread out throughout the building, as you can see. I love having her be part of things with me, and so do the committee members. Several of them asked me to specifically mention that they would love to have her attend the conference.


Our keynote speakers this year were A. S. King (Amy) and David
Levithan.

I created backdrop images for each of them. They were displayed on the screen behind them as they delivered their speeches.

Our conference was a big hit. We sold out in about 2 days, back in January.

It was nice to meet back up with some of the other authors I've gotten to know from past years.

Todd Mitchell has been one of our keynote speakers and a presenter often. I love listening to him tell about his newest book. I also really enjoy watching the joy and energy his displays when he is talking to another author about that authors work. I'll be reading one of her new novels very soon.

I also got chat with Todd Mitchell. He ran a couple of wonderful sessions, including one on Creative Non-Fiction, one of my favorite genres. I will also read his newest book.

I also had a long and wonderful chat about books, cooking and writing with Brenna Yovanoff. She has a new book about redneck witches.

I also got to meet a couple of authors I had not known before.

Rebekah Crane has two fun books and is very interesting to talk to. I can't wait to read her books.

I'm looking forward to her next book, Aspen, which comes out soon.

I also got to see Rebecacca Green Gasper in action. Her book is about teen dating abuse. I look forward to checking that out, too.

At the author and committee dinner the night before the conference I visited with Barb Wright, who wrote a book, Crow, which is about a race riot. We also talked about an upcoming event that she will take part in where she will be working with 6th graders who will be writing about the Hurricane Katrina experience.