In April I attended the 23rd Annual Colorado Teen Literature Conference. The morning keynote speaker was Rachel Vail author of The Avery Trilogy (Lucky, Gorgeous, and Brilliant). She started the conference off with a humorous but thought provoking speech about using the memory of her own teenage emotions to help her write the “truth” in her books. She also asked the audience to take a moment and give a shout out to that one person that has inspired them the most. Laughter and stories flowed; it was an uplifting start to the Conference.
Next on the agenda were the seminars, with seven or more to choose from in each session and covering such a wide variety of topics, it was hard to choose between them. During Session 1, I sat in on Uncover, Discover and Read (Tiah Frankish, Dawn Lewallen, Christy Meredith, and Gigi McVey). The ladies presenting gave book talks to our group displaying a wide variety and range of books from smaller publishing houses. Many of the books I had never heard of but have now included on my summer reading list. They also shared an interesting website that can be used by adults and students alike to help create interactive posters for book shares. The website is: http://edu.glogster.com/
If you are interested in learning more about the books they shared and other lectures they have given check out their website: Consumed by books.
During the second session I attended Katie Butler’s Blogging Teen Books for Fun and “Profit”. Katie started her book blog when she was seventeen and has obviously gained a wealth of knowledge and experience during her two years of book blogging. She made us all jealous hearing about all the free books she gets in the mail but you also immediately recognize that she has earned the privilege through her dedication and enthusiasm. Check out her blog at KatiesBookblog.
The luncheon keynote speaker was Pete Hautman author of godless the 2004 National Book Award winner. He spoke about his journey in becoming an author. How he thought his life was too boring to write about it and how he has come to realize everyone’s experiences are different, whether dramatic or average, they can be worth telling. He brought his point home by sharing his story about how he had this brilliant idea about promoting his book about a state fair. He wanted to promote the release date and set up interviews during the start of the Minnesota State Fair. He was quite taken aback when his editor admitted how she thought he had made all that stuff up. She obviously didn’t know anything about state fairs. It is an intriguing idea that your personal story may be more original than you first thought.
The last session I attended was by Sharon Nehls called Connecting with Young Adult Literature. She introduced many popular teen novels (Across the Universe, Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel, Matched, and Revolution) and spoke about how teachers can connect these novels with essential questions while encouraging critical thinking in teens. Several of the essential questions she used as examples were: What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human? Why do teens rebel against dystopian societies? How do people overcome adversity?
If you are interested in learning more you can visit Sharon Nehls blog spot: What’s New in Young Adult Novels?
The conclusion of the Conference was the Teen Connection Panel. Both Rachel Vail and Pete Hautman answered questions asked by a panel of teens. It was an interesting conversation; both Vail and Hautman gave thoughtful responses that reflected their own individual style and personality.
The answer to the question on whether or not either of them, “write[s] to tell a moral or to just tell a story” defined for the audience the similarities between each of these writer’s goals but further revealed their individual styles.
Rachel Vail: Writes “…to tell the truth. [ I ] don’t write to tell you the answer.”
Pete Hautman: Says that in his stories, “No one is punished and justice is not done.”
Visit Rachel Vail at www.rachelvail.com or Pete Hautman at www.petehautman.com
I look forward to attending next year’s conference. For information on how you can attend the Colorado Teen Literature Conference visit: http://www.coteenlitconf.org/
Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver, Linger, and the soon to be released Forever, is scheduled to be a keynote speaker. Yea!
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