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Conference on Children's Literature

The Broward County Library's 2023 Conference on Children's Literature is an all-day event full of excellent and engaging creators. Register now, lunch will be served while supplies last.

The 2023 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!

8:30 AM Registration and Coffee (Lobby)

Books & Books Book sale opens.

9:15 AM Ashley Bryan Art Series Presentation (Auditorium)

Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, CreativeSoul Photography

10:45AM Celebrating Read for the Record in Broward County (Auditorium) 

Jenny Torres Sanchez, author of With Lots of Love; Zuhirah Khaldun-Diarra, Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Brand at Jumpstart; Cindy Arenberg Seltzer President/CEO of Children’s Services Council of Broward County

12:00 pm Light Lunch and Activities - Exploring AARLCC

Registration includes light lunch including wraps and salads by Just Salad. 

Exploration activities include Local Author Showcase, Hands on STEM Activities and Demos, Pop-Up Ashley Bryan Art Series Exhibit and AfroFantastic Exhibit.

2:00 PM Honoring Hispanic Heritage with Florida Authors (Auditorium)

Vanessa Garcia, Chantel Acevedo, and Jenny Torres Sanchez

3:30PM Miami Book Fair Featured Online Author (Auditorium)   

Ebony LaDelle, author of Love Radio

Featured Presenters (in order of appearance):

CreativeSoul Photography, comprised of the dynamite husband and wife duo of Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, believes that everyone deserves to truly be seen. As renowned photographers, they create thought-provoking imagery showcasing kids across the African Diaspora by bringing to life past, present, and future visions of black culture to create a society where all kids are created equally and feel empowered to move in the world as their true authentic self. They have also received many accolades for their published works: Crowned; Glory; and The Me I Choose to Be. They live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jenny Torres Sanchez is a full-time writer and former English teacher. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived on the border of two worlds her whole life. Her newest book Lots of Love is the 2023 selection for Jumpstart's Read for the Record. She is also the author of young adult books We Are Not From Here; The Fall of Innocence; Because of the Sun; Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia; and The Downside of Being Charlie. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and children. Follow her on Twitter @jetchez and on Instagram @jennytsanchez.

Zuhirah Khaldun-Diarra is Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Brand at Jumpstart. She began her career in the music industry transfixed by the growing influence of Hip-Hop culture in the mid-1990’s and what it could do to lift the voices of underserved and marginalized communities. After graduating college, her first job was as a tour publicist for The Roots at Geffen Records. She says this is where she earned her media and communications stripes and where she learned how to craft a narrative and tell a story, uplifting hidden narratives and eventually becoming publicist for Jay-Z as well as Ja Rule, Method Man, Redman, De La Soul, and DMX, among others. Zuhirah holds a MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in Economics from Barnard College, Columbia University. She currently resides in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley with her husband and two daughters and will every so often pull out her vinyl for a nostalgic DJ set.

Vanessa Garcia is a Cuban-American multidisciplinary writer -- screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and journalist/essayist -- who has written and worked for Sesame Street, where she’s been nominated for an Emmy (Monster Meditation) and won two Telly Awards (Tamir On the Street). She’s also worked on Caillou; Behind the Beats (a French animated show about the history of music and how it’s all connected), and other shows. She’s the author of the novel, White Light, which won an International Latino Book Award and was one of NPRs best books of 2015. Her first picture book for children, What the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History, and Papan launched October 1, 2022. Her journalism, essays and thought pieces have appeared in The LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Review, ESPN, The Hill, Catapult, Narrativel.ly, and numerous other publications. Vanessa also hosts a podcast about family with her own sister and mother called "Never The Empty Nest". She holds a PhD from the University of California Irvine in Creative Nonfiction. Her dissertation focused on Cuba.

Chantel Acevedo is the author of the novels Love and Ghost Letters, A Falling Star, The Distant Marvels, The Living Infinite, Muse Squad: The Cassandra Curse and Muse Squad: The Mystery of the Tenth. Her latest middle grade novel, The Curse on Spectacle Key, is a lightly spooky story set in the Florida Keys, is a 2023-2024 SSYRA Award nominee. She is Professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs the MFA program.

Ebony LaDelle is the acclaimed author of Love Radio. Prior to being an author, Ebony was a brand marketing director in book publishing and worked at Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, among others. Born in Michigan, awoken at Howard University, and cultivated in Brooklyn, Ebony can usually be found eating out somewhere or being the undisputed Mom Friend of any group. Ebony resides in Washington, DC. You can visit her online at EbonyLadelle.com and follow her on social at @ebonyladelle.

The 2023 Conference on Children's Literature is generously funded by the Broward Public Library Foundation and Children's Services Council of Broward.

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

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

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About the African American Research Library and Cultural Center 
The Broward County African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) is located in the Sistrunk community, one of the oldest historically Black communities named for one of Fort Lauderdale’s first Black physicians. Opening to the public on October 26, 2002, AARLCC became the third public library of its kind in the United States dedicated to the study of Black history and culture. The 60,000 square-foot Center serves as a repository of materials related to the local, national, and international voices of the African diaspora with more than 85,000 books, manuscripts, artifacts, framed art, print, photography, audiovisual, and documents held in our Adult Services Section and Special Collections. The Youth Services Section features a special collection of Coretta Scott King Award books and the Ashley Bryan Art Collection from illustrators of African Descent. AARLCC also features a 5,000 sq. ft. museum, a 300-seat state-of-the-art theatre, and a Computer Training Center.

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