Link to Full Announcement: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-w9lQyh3KmRUDS4uJ2p9StMt4VdqXQh8GDlN6JgI_cM/edit?usp=sharing
Want to experience the tastes and sounds of Chicago at ALA Annual? Join members of EMIERT for our annual Taste of the Town on Sunday, June 25, 2023. This year's theme is "Jazz in the City." Enjoy lunch, meet bestselling authors, mingle with EMIERT members, and listen to the sounds of JAZZ. This event is free; however, space is limited. Click here to Register or Register via https://forms.gle/Jgnvv1uqaQaCti3D8
Author Meet and Greet:
EMIERT's Taste of the Town will also feature an author meet and greet made possible by our generous sponsors: The Booking Biz, Lee and Low Books, Literacy Nation, and Simon & Schuster.
Featured Authors:
Aaron Bagley is a seventh level wizard who draws for a living. He likes to draw what he observes (people, boats, cats), and what he experiences (dreams, feelings, life events). His work has been featured in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Seattle's The Stranger, The Seattle Weekly, The Seattle Review of Books, and so many more, collect them all, yadda yadda yadda. Above all else, Aaron loves collaborating with his wife Jessixa. Their book, Vincent Comes Home, was published in 2018 (Roaring Brook Press).
Jessixa Bagley is children's book author/illustrator with a background in fine art and comics. She has had work featured in publications such as: New American Paintings, Nickelodeon Magazine, Highlights Magazine, and Illustoria Magazine. Her debut picture book, Boats for Papa, received numerous awards and accolades including the 2016 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for best picture book text and a 2016 Washington State Book Award. Her picture book Laundry Day received a 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Honor Award for writing. Many of her picture books are also Junior Library Guild Selections. In her work, she is drawn to animals and emotional themes inspired by her own experiences. Jessixa also teaches and speaks about writing and illustration. She often illustrates for other writers and artistically collaborates with her husband, Aaron Bagley. Jessixa lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and son. She is represented by Alexandra Penfold at Upstart Crow Literary.
Patty Cisneros Prevo (she/her) is a first-generation Mexican-American, writer, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, and proud mom and partner. She also works as a Diversity & Inclusion manager at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Her manuscript for Tenacious won the 2018 Lee & Low New Voices Award Honor and marks her debut as an author. Learn more about her at pattycisnerosprevo.com.
Tracy Occomy Crowder (she/her) is a community organizer who has worked to address issues of racial equity across Illinois for the past thirty years, particularly in housing and education. In this work, she brought recess back to Chicago Public Schools. As an author, she enjoys creating work steeped in African-American history, culture, struggles, and human foibles as well as share unknown historical facts with humor and everyday experiences. Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key is Tracy's first middle grade novel.
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Andrea Jamison, PhD
Assistant Professor of School Librarianship
Illinois State University
[She/Her/Hers]
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