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Conference on Children's Literature (In-Person)

Find Your Voice

Our signature Conference will return as an in-person program!

The 2022 Conference on Children's Literature is an all day event full of excellent and engaging creators. This annual Conference is free to attend and open to educators of all kinds - librarians, teachers, and parents are all welcome. Participants will leave inspired and motivated to bring the power of story to the families and children they work with. Please register and attend, and you may win signed copies of some the featured titles!

8:30AM Registration and Coffee

9:15 AM Session 1: Read for the Record Panel featuring Broward Reads Coalition, Jumpstart's Chief Development and Marketing Officer Sharon Reilly, and author Antwan Eady

10:15AM Session 2: Kerry O’Malley Cerra and Sherri Winston (Ms Winston will be presenting online.)   

11AM Session 3: Antwan Eady 

12 PM Light Lunch and Performer Fair

Online Lunchtime Presentation with Nathan Hale

1:30 PM Session 4: Karma Wilson 

2:30 PM Session 5: Christina Diaz Gonzalez

3:30PM Session 6: Jen Calonita

4:30 PM: Closing Remarks 

Featured Presenters:  

Karma Wilson is a New York Times best selling children's author of over 40 books, including the bestselling Bear and Little Pip books illustrated by Jane Chapman, One Day in the Middle of the Bog illustrated by Joan Rankin, and many other award-winning picture books. Karma is renowned for her ability to inspire young readers not only with her picture books but teaching them the basics of writing and rhyme. She came from a humble and modest childhood, raised by a single, but determined, mother who believed her only child was destined for something grand. For this reason she named her daughter “Karma” hoping that good karma would shine on her. Karma's hobbies include reading (of course), photography, baking, and being a grandmother! Karma lives on a Montana ranch with her family. 

Antwan Eady is the author of the 2022 Read for the Record selected book, Nigel and the Moon. Antwan grew up in Garnett, SC, where he spent most of his days riding four-wheelers, fishing, and imagining a world without limitations. When he isn’t writing, he’s searching for the best Lowcountry boil in Savannah, GA where he currently resides.

Sharon Reilly is the Chief Development and Marketing Officer for Jumpstart. In this capacity, Sharon ensures the people, partnerships, and systems across Jumpstart’s network are aligned to meet the organization’s fundraising goals, advance Jumpstart’s overall brand, and move the mission forward. Her passion for Jumpstart’s mission is deeply rooted in both her personal lived experience and her belief in education as a powerful path to achieve equity. ​

Kerry O'Malley Cerra is an award-winning author of middle grade books. Her first novel, Just a Drop of Water, landed on five state reading lists, won the Crystal Kite Award, a Florida Book Award, and was named to VOYA’s Top Shelf Fiction list for 2014. Her second novel, Hear Me, publishes in September 2022. Kerry’s work has received praise from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, VOYA, and the Horn Book Guide calling her stories perceptive, well-developed, and woven with an expert hand. Kerry lives in South Florida with her family and two poorly behaved rescue-dogs.

Sherri Winston is an award- winning author of middle grade books President of the Whole Fifth Grade, President of the Whole Sixth Grade, Jada Sly, Artist & Spy, The Sweetest Sound, and The Kayla Chronicles. Ms. Winston, a native of Michigan, spent several years as a newspaper columnist and journalist for the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. She was the recipient of the Clarion Award for journalists, as well as winner of a journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan. Winston is also a three-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for her weekly lifestyle column. She lives with her family in Florida and is a lover of cupcakes, cooking shows and spy movies. 

Nathan Hale is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series. He also wrote and illustrated the graphic novels One Trick Pony and Apocalypse Taco. Hale lives in Utah. 

Christina Diaz Gonzalez is the Edgar® award-winning and best-selling author of several novels including The Red Umbrella, A Thunderous Whisper, Moving Target, Concealed, Invisible: A Graphic Novel, and The Bluest Sky. Her books have received numerous awards and have also been designated as an American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults selection, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, and as an International Reading Association's Teachers' Choice book. Christina currently lives in Miami, Florida with her husband, sons, and a dog that can open doors.

Jen Calonita is the New York Times and USA Today-bestselling author of more than thirty books for teens and middle grade. Her books have sold more than a million copies and have been translated into 15 languages. A graduate of Boston College, Jen began her career as an entertainment journalist at Teen People magazine where she interviewed everyone from Dwayne Johnson to Reese Witherspoon. It was this job that inspired her first book, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, which was the winner of the Louisiana Young Readers Award. Jen went on to write six books in the best-selling series. She went on to write several series including the best-selling Fairy Tale Reform School and books in Disney’s New York Times best-selling A Twisted Tale series. A Twisted Tale’s Mirror Mirror was the winner of the 2020 Teen Choice Book Awards, the only national book awards program where winners are selected by children and teens. Her writing also has appeared in Glamour, Marie Claire, Self, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. Jen can be found in New York with her husband, two boys and a feisty chihuahua named Ben Kenobi. When she isn’t writing, she can be found traveling or dreaming about visiting Disney Parks. 

The 2022 Conference on Children's Literature is generously funded by the Broward Public Library Foundation and Children's Services Council of Broward.

Feature books will be available for sale through Conference on Children's Literature book provider Books & Books. 

This program is presented through collaborations and partnerships with Broward Reads: The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, and Miami Book Fair.