ALAN 2011

The first day of the ALAN 2011 workshop began for ALAN BOD folks at 6:30 am. We headed down to the ballroom where flats of books awaited us. I had brought 8 box cutters along (in checked luggage) and markers and ALAN postcards as well. So, off we all went, supervised by President Wendy Glenn and Book Maven Walter Mayes. By the time registrants began showing up at 7-ish, we were pretty much organized. I worked registration until the local folks showed up, so I had the chance to greet one of the Gallo Grant recipients, Elizabeth Sturgis, whose registration was paid by the grant (I later met Marsha Boyd the other Gallo Grant winner). Visit our web site for forms and information (www.alan-ya.org).

The day opened with the brilliant Tobin (M. T.) Anderson who made us laugh and made us think with his keynote.



Laurie Halse Anderson brought the day to a stunning and stunned close as she delivered her presentation from the floor of the stage. I am happy to report that Laurie is now recovered (mostly) from her food poisoning, but we were one quiet audience as she was transported to the hospital.

The luminaries for the workshop are numerous. Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher spoke about THE FUTURE OF US:



David Levithan called for us to be an Army of Empathy as ALAN ended for another year.



If you are on Twitter, you can search using the #ALAN11 hashtag to see some of the highlights from the presentations. It was a fast paced and wonderful 2 days. Make plans now to join us in Las Vegas for ALAN 2012. Breakfast speaker will be Scott Westerfeld!