The annual Hubbs Children's Literature Conference is designed for parents, teachers, students, librarians, writers and others interested in encouraging the use of quality children's literature in homes, schools, and communities. The conference also provides an opportunity to share information and learn how to better meet the educational needs of youth. The event will include Featured Author Talks and an Author Panel with Q&A time. Book signing will also be available. CEUs will be offered for this event.
REGISTER HERE
FEATURED AUTHORS
V.T. Bidania is the author of ASTRID AND APOLLO, the first children’s book series to feature Hmong American characters. The chapter books follow the slice-of-life adventures of eight-year-old twins Astrid and Apollo Lee and their Hmong American family in Minnesota. Her middle grade novel in verse, A YEAR WITHOUT A HOME, will be published in 2025 by Nancy Paulsen Books and is a fictionalized memoir of her family's escape from Laos during the Vietnam War and their time in refugee camps before resettling in the U.S. She is a McKnight Writing Fellow and has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School.
Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press), her debut picture book as author-illustrator. She is also a New York Times bestselling illustrator recipient of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook) and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam). Juana was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012. She was born in Lima, the capital of Peru, and now lives in Connecticut, with her husband and three children.
AUTHOR PANEL
In addition to V.T. Bidania and Juana Martinez-Neal, two local authors will join us for the panel:
Heather Bouwman is the author of children’s novels such as Gossamer Summer (2023, Atheneum), A Crack in the Sea, (Putnam, 2017), and A Tear in the Ocean (2019), as well as the Owen and Eleanor early chapter book series (Beaming Books). A Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas, she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her two kids.
Shayla Michelle Reaves is an Emmy-award winning journalist at WCCO with more than a decade of experience in television news. She is also the author of the children's book, Echo in the Distance (2023), a moving tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream shared from the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.
COST
General Admission: $45
Students (non-St. Thomas): $25
St. Thomas Students, Faculty, and Staff: FREE (Registration is still required.)
LOCATION
O’Shaughnessy Education Center (OEC) Auditorium
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, Minnesota 55105
REGISTRATION
Register here.
PURCHASE BOOKS AT CONFERENCE
Books by our featured authors will be available to purchase on the day of the event through Black Garnet Books, a Black-owned and operated bookstore. Black Garnet Books exists to address racial inequality within the publishing and literary industries, both nationally and within the state of Minnesota. In an effort to do so, we’ve curated our shelves to focus on literature by authors and illustrators of color, ensuring that any purchase made at our store directly supports the continued telling of our stories.