The 2018 Kennesaw State University Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults

10/5/2017

One of the best small conferences I go to is the one at Kennesaw State. This week, Bryan Gillis give us an introduction to the 2018 conference in March. The host of authors coming this year is terrific. I hope more of you will consider joining me this coming March. Bryan has also contributed in the past. You can find his post here.

Kennesaw State University Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults
by Bryan Gillis

For the past 26 years, the Kennesaw State University Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults has created magical two-day experiences for teachers, preservice teachers, public and school librarians, media specialists, and school administrators in which they have had opportunities to listen to and interact with highly acclaimed children's and young adult authors as well as attend presentations from master teachers and experts in the field on all facets of literacy instruction.

It has been my honor and privilege to be a part of the Kennesaw State University Literature Conference for the past ten years. I am very proud of the work my colleagues and I have done to make ours one of the best literature conferences in the country. It is with pride and a bit of sadness that I announce that this will be my last year as director of this incredible conference. As such, I want to thank everyone who has helped make the conference so successful. First, thank you to the KSU Bagwell College of Education and our dean, Dr. Arlinda Eaton who has been so incredibly supportive. To our conference executive board, Nancy Gillis, Natasha Thornton, Sanjuana Rodriguez, and Nora Schlesinger, who work to make sure that every aspect of the conference runs smoothly and efficiently. Thanks to all of the amazing teachers, librarians, media specialists, and administrators who continue to attend each year, and of course, a special debt of gratitude goes out to all of the authors who have graced our conference with their presence.

Here is a partial list from the past ten years- Gene Luen Yang, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrew Smith, Chris Crutcher, Ashley Hope Perez, Hans Wilhelm, Chris Lynch, Laurie Halse Anderson, Chris Crowe, Deborah Wiles, Jerry Pallotta, Tom Leveen, Alan Sitomer, Phil Bildner, Kate Messner, Marc Tyler Nobelman, Herman Parrish, Carrie Ryan, Eileen Christelow, T.A. Barron, Kevin O'Malley, Joseph Bruchac, Jay Asher, Matt de la Pena, Lisa McMann, Ned Vizzini (Rest in Peace, Ned), and Bill Konigsberg.

The 2018 KSU Literature Conference is going to be spectacular!

The Kennesaw State University Literature Conference- March 19 - 20, 2018

Look Who is Coming!

I want to encourage you to attend and submit a proposal to present. all of the information for registration and proposal submissions can be found at the link below. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. We hope to see you there!

Registration closes March 1, 2018

Call for Proposals closes February 2, 201

Register at http://lcya.kennesaw.ed

Dr. Steve Bickmore
Creator and Curator

Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
Co-Curator

Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and writing program administrator at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods. She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

Bickmore's
Co-Edited Books

Meet
Evangile Dufitumukiza!

Evangile is a native of Kigali, Rwanda. He is a college student that Steve meet while working in Rwanda as a missionary. In fact, Evangile was one of the first people who translated his English into Kinyarwanda.

Steve recruited him to help promote Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media while Steve is doing his mission work.

He helps Dr. Bickmore promote his academic books and sometimes send out emails in his behalf.

You will notice that while he speaks fluent English, it often does look like an "American" version of English. That is because it isn't. His English is heavily influence by British English and different versions of Eastern and Central African English that is prominent in his home country of Rwanda.

Welcome Evangile into the YA Wednesday community as he learns about Young Adult Literature and all of the wild slang of American English vs the slang and language of the English he has mastered in his beautiful country of Rwanda.

While in Rwanda, Steve has learned that it is a poor English speaker who can only master one dialect and/or set of idioms in this complicated language.

Blogs to Follow