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ALAN Online News August 2016
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An early version of this newsletter went out with incorrect dates listed for the ALAN breakfast and workshop. My apologies for the errors which have been corrected.
As school starts back, the emails arrive in alarming numbers. Teachers share lesson plans, adjust rosters, reassure parents. Librarians juggle technology, place book orders, schedule visits for classes. Our inboxes fill to overflowing, with ten or twenty times the number of emails that appeared a few short weeks ago.
PLEASE READ. I don't put that in the subject line of emails to our faculty unless I have to because I know how busy everyone is. The same with this newsletter. But please do read this August ALAN Online News:
- If you want to find out the names of some of the speakers at the ALAN Workshop
- If you have been looking forward to hearing who won the AEW Award
- If you want to have a voice in the leadership of ALAN by voting for our president-elect and new board members or by applying to head up next year's AEW committee
- If you are in need of the latest calls for manuscripts for TAR because you have a manuscript that would be perfect for ALAN members
- If you are seeking funding to attend the workshop for the first time through one of three grants available to ALAN members or need funding to assist with YA research
- If you are trying to figure out workshop registration, which is handled through the NCTE site
Please read because we want as many of you as possible to join us for what promises to be an outstanding ALAN Workshop in three short months. The photo above, taken at the workshop in Minneapolis last year by Noah Schaffer, gives a real sense of what an ALAN Workshop is like - the energy, the conversations, the excitement. Remember, we have special guest S.E. Hinton speaking at the ALAN Breakfast on Saturday, November 19th.
In short, there is a lot going on right now with more to follow, so please read this email and share with others. We hope to see you in Atlanta in November.
- Anne McLeod, Editor
ALAN Online News
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2016 ALAN Workshop in Atlanta, November 21-22
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From ALAN President Jennifer Buehler:
The ALAN Workshop has long been a place where teachers, librarians, and YA advocates come together to discover new books, meet new authors, and find renewed inspiration for their work with teen readers. This year’s workshop will be no different! With its theme of “Innovators, Visionaries, and Rebels: Celebrating Risk Takers in Young Adult Literature,” the workshop will feature authors of YA classics, award winners, best sellers, and debut titles—books that push the field forward through innovative approaches to writing and storytelling. Solo speeches, panels, and breakout sessions will focus on where the field has been, where it’s headed, and what we gain when we take risks in writing and advocating for teens.
Want to be inspired by keynote and solo speakers? Look forward to A. S. King’s keynote followed by individual talks by M. T. Anderson, Matt de la Peña, Frances Hardinge, Jon Scieszka, Neal Shusterman, and Maggie Stiefvater. Are you following the conversation about diversity in YA and the need for more stories by authors of color? Hear
Jason Reynolds
(As Brave as You) in conversation with debut author
Ibi Zoboi (
American Street). Hear Scholastic editor
Andrea Davis Pinkney in conversation with debut author
Christine Kendall (
Riding Chance).
Interested in the challenges and opportunities of small press publishing? Lee Byrd and Jessica Powers, editors at Cinco Puntos Press, will be featured in a panel session with author Philippe Diederich (Playing for the Devil’s Fire). Want to hear authors in dialogue about the past and future of one particular corner of the field? Look forward to hearing
Laurie Halse Anderson in conversation with
E. K. Johnston (
Exit, Pursued by a Bear) and
Amber Smith (
The Way I Used to Be) on stories of rape and healing.
Do you keep up with innovations in nonfiction books for teens? Candace Fleming (The Family Romanov) and Deborah Heiligman (Vincent and Theo) will talk about creative approaches to writing biography and history. Ali Benjamin (The Thing about Jellyfish) and Sy Montgomery (The Octopus Scientists) will explore intersections between fiction and nonfiction. Learn how authors are furthering the conversation about teen sexuality in YA literature and life through podcasts.
Carrie Mesrobian (
Just a Girl) and
Christa Desir (
Other Broken Things) will talk about their work as hosts of the
Oral History Podcast.
Want to find out about more opportunities to gather together in person with YA fans? Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will discuss their collaboration as program coordinators for YALLFEST and YALLWEST, annual teen book festivals founded and run by YA authors. Do you miss hearing the voices of real teens during your days at ALAN? Stick around for an appearance by the
Get Lit Players (
Get Lit Rising), a teen poetry troupe from Los Angeles that travels the country performing classic and spoken word poems.
Click here for a complete list of 2016 ALAN Workshop authors. Watch the ALAN website and Facebook page for more upcoming announcements about this year's ALAN Workshop.
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Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner:
All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds
and Brendan Kiely
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From the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee:
The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the 2016 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction finalists and winning title. Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.
The 2016 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner is: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books)
The 2016 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (Penguin Random House / Knopf Books for Young Readers); Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (HarperCollins / HarperTeen); Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez (Lerner / Carolrhoda Lab); Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).
All Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists. The winning title and finalists will be honored at the 2016 ALAN Workshop on Monday, November 21st at 4:30pm in Atlanta, GA, and the authors will be invited to participate in a panel discussion.
The 2016 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation, the ALAN Executive Council, the ALAN Board of Directors, NCTE, and the many publishers who submitted titles for consideration.
The 2016 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered over 350 young adult titles throughout the process. The committee was comprised of eleven members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities. They are: Mark Letcher, Committee Chair; Lois Stover, Past Committee Chair; Cathy Blackler; Nancy Johnson; Sara Kajder; Joellen Maples; Lisa Morris-Wilkey; Beth Scanlon; Jessica Lorentz Smith; Wendy Stephens; and Lisa Scherff Warren.
For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents http://www.alan-ya.org/awards/walden-award/.
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Rock the Vote! Cast Your Ballot for ALAN's President-Elect and New Board Members
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Your 2016 ALAN Election ballot is now accessible on the Internet. You will need your membership number, which can be found to the left of your name on the mailing label of your copies of The ALAN Review. If you need help with your membership number, please email Jim Blasingame for assistance.
Vote for ONE of the two candidates for President-Elect: Marshall A. George and Mark Letcher.
Vote for three of six candidates for the Board of Directors: Helene Halstead, Melanie Koss, Sean Kottke, Donalyn Miller, Lisa Scherff, and Sarah Ressler Wright.
Candidate bios are posted on the ALAN website.
Ready? Set! Click and vote! Deadline for voting is October 1, 2016.
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Help Wanted: 2017 AEW Award Committee Chair
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From the AEW Committee:
The Selection Committee for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award is currently accepting nominations for chair of the 2017 award committee. Those interested in applying to chair the committee should prepare an application statement (described below) and submit it by August 26, 2016.
The qualifications for the chair are: the chair must have served on the committee for at least one year, and preferably be a more experienced committee member.
To apply for the chair position, please send a statement to
Mark Letcher, outgoing chair, and cc
Jim Blasingame, ALAN Executive Director, in which you a) describe your reasons for wanting to serve as the committee chair given the responsibilities, b) outline your history of service with ALAN and within the field of young adult literature, and c) articulate your goals for the coming year for the Walden Committee.
A decision will be made by early September. The new chair will then help select new committee members for 2017 and have time to get organized to reach out to publishers as efficiently as possible.
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September Grant Deadlines Approach
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From ALAN Executive Director James Blasingame:
The deadlines are quickly approaching for our wonderful variety of ALAN grants for 2016. I am pleased to provide a summary of these grand opportunities made possible by some very thoughtful folks.
As you refer to the ALAN website addresses for each grant, be sure to note that the requirements and deadlines vary from grant to grant. Please pass on this information to colleagues, librarians, and graduate students.
(1) The Cart/Campbell Grant for librarians offers $500 funding plus complimentary registration toward attendance at the annual two-day ALAN Workshop which is held at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving Day. Eligible applicants are practicing librarians working with teens in high school, junior high school, middle school, or public libraries. Membership in ALAN is required for consideration. One Campbell/Cart Grant will be awarded annually, and each recipient may only receive the grant once. Application due September 1.
(2) The Smith/Carlsen Grant for graduate students offers $500 funding plus complimentary registration toward attendance at the annual 2-day ALAN Workshop. Eligible applicants must be enrolled as full-time graduate students in a program focused on English Education, Literacy Education, and/or Young Adult Literature and must not have attended an ALAN Workshop previously. Membership in ALAN is required for consideration. One Smith/Carlsen Grant will be awarded annually, and each recipient may only receive the grant once. Application due September 1.
(3) The Gallo Grants were established in 2003 by former ALAN Award and Hipple Award recipient Don Gallo to encourage educators in their early years of teaching to attend the ALAN Workshop for the first time. The grants provide funding—up to $750 each—for two classroom teachers in middle school or high school each year to attend the ALAN Workshop. (The amount of a grant may be less than $750 if the applicant lives within commuting distance of the convention location where airfare and housing would not be necessary or has access to other funding). In addition to the $750 grant, the registration fee for the workshop will also be covered. Recipients will receive half of the grant ($375) before the workshop. The remaining half of the grant will be disbursed at the end of the ALAN Workshop. The ALAN Workshop is held at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving Day. Applicants must be teaching full-time; must have been classroom teachers for less than five years prior to the year in which they are applying; and must not have attended an ALAN Workshop previously. Membership in ALAN is not required for consideration, though applicants are expected to become ALAN members if they receive this grant. Application due September 1.
(4) Members of ALAN may apply for the ALAN Foundation Grant for funding (up to $1,500) for research in young adult literature. Proposals are reviewed by the five most recent presidents of ALAN. Awards are made annually in the fall and are announced at the ALAN breakfast during the NCTE convention in November. The application deadline each year is September 15th. Application due September 15.
We are so very grateful to the kind folks who make these grants possible through their gifts.
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Registering for the ALAN Workshop
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The ALAN Breakfast and ALAN Workshop will both be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Registration is open now. For more information about how to sign up for ALAN events through NCTE's registration page, go to our website at
ALAN-YA.org.
Registration information is at the bottom of the page.
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The World of Young Adult Literature Volume 44: Issue 3 (Summer 2017)
The world of young adult literature extends beyond the United States. And yet, readers in our nation are not often invited to consider stories published in or written about other lands, cultures, and communities. While the US is rich in diversity, and the field is increasingly recognizing the need to share stories for and about all readers, we are a single nation on a globe inhabited by many. We wonder what might be gained from increased exposure to a wider array of young adult literature that lies beyond our national borders. We wonder, too, what challenges exist in finding, publishing, and teaching such titles and how we might address these with care and humanity. We invite contributors to consider the stories of adolescence that are written around the globe and to tackle questions related to international literature, broadly and narrowly defined. What common experiences, realities, and ways of knowing, doing, and being exist across cultures? What differences might reveal our biases—and enhance our understandings? Are cultural differences ever too big to bridge? Whose stories get published—and whose remain untold to a larger community? What role do translators play in telling stories to new audiences? Can literature unite people across distant places? As always, we also welcome submissions focused on any aspect of young adult literature not directly connected to this theme. All submissions may be sent to the editors of TAR prior to November 1, 2016. Please see the ALAN website for submission guidelines.
English Journal Multicultural and Multivoiced Stories for Adolescents
Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns of “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal, July 2009). She writes: "The problem with the single story is that it creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. . . . The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar." By weaving multicultural and multivoiced young adult literature (YAL) into the curriculum, teachers can avoid the danger of the single story. Culturally diverse young adult literature invites readers to explore new vistas. These stories engage readers in considering new perspectives to create understandings and build cross-cultural connections. Social media movements such as #weneeddiversebooks recognize and support the roles authors and their stories can play in representing the many voices of our adolescents.
In this issue, we explore how multicultural and multivoiced young adult literature can broaden adolescents’ perspectives and engage classroom communities in meaningful discourse. While the term multicultural texts can refer to readers’ race, ethnicity, gender expression, spiritual belief, sexual orientation, and languages/dialects, and multivoiced texts offer multiple narrative voices and perspectives, we leave both terms open for readers to interpret. In all, such texts both broaden and deepen adolescents’ understandings of themselves and the world. We invite you to share your research-based practices and classroom experiences with teaching multicultural or multivoiced young adult literature. How do we teach and interpret these texts? How do you use YAL to build cross-cultural connections in your classrooms? In what ways do students gain global perspectives through reading culturally diverse YAL? What stories have you used that connect students with the personal and the global? What are the criteria for evaluating a multicultural or multivoiced young adult book? Submission Deadline: January 15, 2017. Publication Date: September 2017. Please direct questions about this issue to Kelly Byrne Bull.
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