Stressed about your debut book release? You are not alone! These authors have been in the trenches and survived to share their tales.

In this publishing panel, brought to you by The Authors Guild, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom, and M. Garcia Pena/Mia Garcia give you a behind-the-scenes look at:

This event is brought to you by The Authors Guild.

oin us for Latinx KidLit Book Festival's FIRST ever virtual book club! Meg Medina joins Alexandra Villasante and students from York Academy, York PA to chat all things Merci Suarez Plays It Cool, writing, and more.

Join authors Anika Fajardo (Meet Me Halfway) and Jennifer Torres (Lola Out Loud) as they discuss how writers draw inspiration from favorite books and movies and use those to tell a NEW story all of their own. Bring your notebook or laptop and come ready to write!

A conversation between award-winning author Pam Muñoz Ryan and acclaimed illustrator Jacqueline Alcántara. Moderated by Latinx Kidlit Book Festival co-founder Ismée Williams.

In this bootcamp for writers, Muñoz Ryan and Alcántara discuss how to enrich stories with multicultural elements to create books that offer authentic representation of ourselves and our communities. They will explore how authors and illustrators can add cultural nuance and depth to create a world where readers can see themselves.

This event is brought to you by SCBWI.

Past NCTE President Alfredo Celedón Luján and Co-Chair of the NCTE Latinx Caucus, Tracey Flores, talk with award-winning author Ruth Behar about their experiences as educators working to free students to write about their ethnicities, accents, home languages, and identities, whatever they are. They discuss the use of Spanglish, tactical run-on sentences, magical realism, non-linear plots, and more to make fascinating classroom storytelling that doesn't follow all the "rules."

Join these award-winning and debut picture book authors for an interactive read aloud! Grab a pillow and a blanket and snuggle in! With Anika Aldamuy Denise (Phenomenal AOC: The Roots and Rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), Cynthia Harmony (Mi Ciudad Sings), Michael Genhart (May Your Life Be Deliciosa), Anna Orenstein- Cardona (The Tree of Hope: The Miraculous Rescue of Puerto Rico’s Beloved Banyan) and, Mariana Ríos Ramírez (Santiago's Dinosaurios).

Short and sweet (or sometimes horrifying), when a writer takes on a short story, what are the best craft practices for making the characters, plot, and tying it all up? How does an author make their shirt story just as impactful as a novel?

Join authors Ari Tison, Maika Moulite, Camille Gomez-Tavarez and Margarita Longoria in a conversation with Anna Meriano all about short stories: from writing them to what makes them so great.

Comics and graphic novels represent a more than $1.28 billion market. Their popularity can be an asset in the classroom. Join educator and Library Services Coordinator in Leander, Texas, Becky Calzada as she talks to authors Jose Pimienta (Twin Cities) and Amanda Castillo (Mapmakers and the Lost Magic) about the power of the visual narrative in aiding reading comprehension and fostering a love of literacy. Authors will also discuss how their stories have helped to combat the disparities in representation in the middle-grade graphic novel space. Bring your questions for a lively discussion!

Educators in attendance can sign up to receive a professional development certificate via email.

This event is sponsored by Random House Children's Books.

In this intensive workshop for educators, literacy experts and co-founders of the En Comunidad Collective, Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera join forces with award-winning children’s book author Aida Salazar.

They will use their pedagogical experience, cultural background and creative skills to empower educators to create liberating spaces and experiences for multicultural students.

Herrera and España are the authors of the book En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Using their book as guide, they will talk about creating lessons that follow critical multicultural literacies framework in the classroom including:

• a focus on issues of language, literacies, and power

• recommending carefully-curated texts and multimodal resources featuring Latinx voices

• centering translanguaging pedagogy in order to improve language and content competences in school contexts by using resources from the learner's whole linguistic repertoire

Aida Salazar is an award-winning author, arts activist, and translator whose writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice. She is the author of the middle grade novels The Moon Within and Land of the Cranes. Aida is also a founding member of Las Musas, a Latinx kidlit author collective.

This workshop is brought to you by Penguin Books for Young Readers.

Stories that celebrate the wondrous, fantastical, and the beauty of Latinx cultures are here, so let's shine light on some of these magical authors and their books.

Karla Arenas Valenti talks with Laekan Zea Kemp, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Rex Ogle, and Julian Randall about kidlit Latinx fantasies and all the amazing reasons we should be paying attention to them.