New York Times bestselling author, Adam Silvera explores the complicated and multi-layered facets of identity and the role that his ancestry and cultural heritage play in his life and his writing. Adam will be in conversation with debut YA author Aaron Aceves.

Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Infinity Reaper, Infinity Son, They Both Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, and—with Becky Albertalli—What If It's Us and Here’s to Us.

Aaron H. Aceves is a bisexual, Mexican-American writer born and raised in East L.A. He graduated from Harvard College and received his MFA from Columbia University. His debut novel, This Is Why They Hate Us, releases in 2022.

Kokila brings together an inclusive community of authors, illustrators, and readers to examine and celebrate stories that reflect the richness of our world.

Join Kokila editor Joanna Cárdenas and Kokila authors Celia C. Pérez (TUMBLE), David Bowles (THEY CALL HER FREGONA), Diana López (FELICE AND THE WAILING WOMAN), and Stephanie Rodriguez (DOODLES FROM THE BOOGIE DOWN) as they discuss the importance of centering Latinx stories to add depth to the way readers see the world and their place in it.

This event is brought to you by Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

In this craft panel authors Angela Velez (Lulu and Milagro's Search for Clarity) and Maritza Moulite (Our Shadows Have Claws) ask how do authors use character wants to influence what happens in their stories? What happens when something gets in the way of what they want?

Latin-Grammy winners 123 Andrés join us for an interactive music celebration for kids and families.

To be a Latinx author writing Latinx stories is inherently a political act. An act of reclaming power and of resistence. NoNieqa Ramos joins Mayra Cuevas, Alda P. Dobbs, and Karina Nicole González to discuss their own stories that lean on exactly that premise, and what it means to write books in today's world that seek to empower the specific Latinx audiences they write for.

What makes a great novel-in-verse? How does someone, equally author and poet, construct a single storyline solely through the use of poetry?

To answer these questions and discuss their own gorgeous work, Andrea Beatriz Arango brings together fellow poets and novels-in-verse writers Margarita Engle, Terry Catasús Jennings, Alessandra Narváez Varela, and Edd Tello.

The Amazon rainforest has its own special magic! It is often called the “lungs of the planet” because it draws in carbon dioxide and breathes out oxygen. In this draw off we explore the people, plants and animals unique to this Latin American region. Try to stump our illustrators by asking them to draw a blue poison dart frog or a white-cheeked spider monkey!

Featuring Tania de Regil, Loris Lora, and Germán Blanco in conversation with Zara González Hoang.

¡Es la hora del susto! Nuestros ilustradores compiten para dibujar las historias que nos aterrorizan y los personajes que más nos hacen temblar. ¡Trae tus propias ideas a este evento en vivo!

Con Sol Undurraga, Marcelo Verdad, Xavier Garza y Ana Aranda.

Authors are commonly heard saying that we "write the books we wish we had in our youth," but what is it to really write those stories that are plucked from the memories, both beautiful and difficult, of our own lives and the lives of our communities? What advice would authors give to those who want to tell stories directly inspired by our pasts and all the ways our own lives shape who we are today?

Featuring Alexis Castellanos, Raquel Donoso, Jasminne Mendez, and Vanessa Torres in conversation with Adrianna Cuevas.

From STEM to deep ocean dives, Latinx authors are showing that young Latinx readers they can be the main character in any interpretation of life. In these contemporary stories, authors explore the joys and struggles their characters face in our own world.

Featuring Monica Brown, Angela Dominguez, Nina Moreno, and Sallie Anne Rodriguez in conversation with Rebecca Balcárcel.

Join authors Anika Fajardo (Meet Me Halfway) and Jennifer Torres (Lola Out Loud) as they discuss how writers draw inspiration from favorite books and movies and use those to tell a NEW story all of their own. Bring your notebook or laptop and come ready to write!

Let's celebrate comic books and graphic novels! Storytelling with the use of pictures is an extraordinary way of bringing characters to life and seeing Latinx characters on the page, whether as superheroes or heroes of their own communities and families, carries undeniable value.

Featuring Jarod Rosello, Rodrigo Vargas, Chuck Gonzales and Kat Fajardo in conversation with Juliet Menéndez.

Join Pura Belpré Award winning authors and illustrators Duncan Tonatiuh and Eric Velasquez as they discuss the transformative power that illustration has to make un cuento come to life, whether they're working with an author's words or their own. Learn the different ways that both illustrators use the text to create subtext and layers of meaning in their artwork, to bring the fullest expression to the narrative.

Moderated by Monica Mancillas.

Join Latinx Kidlit Festival co-founders Mayra Cuevas, Ismée Williams and Alex Villasante for morning announcements, classroom set of books giveaways and details on how to apply for our new author and illustrator school visits fund. They will be joined by special guest, NPR’s Latino USA host, award-winning journalist and author Maria Hinojosa. Mayra will be in conversation with María about her new book for young readers Once I Was You , Finding My Voice and Passing the Mic.

Join us for Latinx KidLit Book Festival's FIRST ever virtual book club! Meg Medina joins Alexandra Villasante and students from York Academy, York PA to chat all things Merci Suarez Plays It Cool, writing, and more.

It's time to add some sazón to our fantasies! In landscape, language, skin color, cultures, and histories Latin America holds so much beauty and potential for inspiration when it comes to writing fantasy novels.

Lizz Huerta, Linda Nieves Pérez, Gabe Cole Novoa, and Aiden Thomas join Francesca Flores to discuss the ways Latin America has influenced the stories they tell and how that makes them even more magical.

The real world brings plenty of opportunities to live our best main character lives. Whether as celebrities or high school students just trying to make it to Saturday, contemporary stories can be incredible opportunities to show life as it is. Laura Taylor Namey joins Olivia Abtahi, Emery Lee, Gabriela Martins, and Eric Smith for a discussion on their own books and the legacy of Latinx-centered contemporary YA fiction.

Our favorite illustrators draw their favorite foods! Learn about all the foods (and desserts!) that make Latin American cuisine rich, flavorful and absolutely deliciosa! Bring your own mouthwatering prompts to this live event.

With Paola Escobar, Erika Meza and Flavia Drago. Moderated by Lulu Delacre.

Join these award-winning and debut picture book authors for an interactive read aloud! Grab a pillow and a blanket and snuggle in! With Anika Aldamuy Denise (Phenomenal AOC: The Roots and Rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), Cynthia Harmony (Mi Ciudad Sings), Michael Genhart (May Your Life Be Deliciosa), Anna Orenstein- Cardona (The Tree of Hope: The Miraculous Rescue of Puerto Rico’s Beloved Banyan) and, Mariana Ríos Ramírez (Santiago's Dinosaurios).

Join authors Ernesto Cisneros (Falling Short) and Alexandra Alessandri (The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía) as they show you how to use real world and personal events to create fictional stories and characters. Bring your notebook or laptop and come ready to write!

Whether it's standing up for their communities, their families, or themselves, young Latinas can turn to books to see stories of empowerment through a myriad of lenses and settings.

Marcia Mickelson joins Francesca Padilla, Debbie Rigaud, Lilliam Rivera, and Natalia Sylvester on their stories and the young women they write about and for.

Our favorite illustrators take to the ring to draw off characters in action! Everything from football players scoring a gooooooaaaallllllll!!!!! to a Lucha Libre warriors slam and even gravity defying ballerinas. Bring your own action-packed prompts to this live event.

With Pablo Leon, Joe Cepeda and Carolyn Flores. Moderated by Eliza Kinkz.

In a time when queer and BIPOC books are being taken away from libraries and classrooms, we continue writing stories for the young people who look like us, who love like us, and who deserve stories that center us in all the ways: our struggles, our power, our joy.

Jonny Garza Villa talks with Crystal Maldonado, Racquel Marie, and Vincent Tirado on writing as a queer Latine and all the ways our identities inspire the incredible stories we tell.

Short and sweet (or sometimes horrifying), when a writer takes on a short story, what are the best craft practices for making the characters, plot, and tying it all up? How does an author make their shirt story just as impactful as a novel?

Join authors Ari Tison, Maika Moulite, Camille Gomez-Tavarez and Margarita Longoria in a conversation with Anna Meriano all about short stories: from writing them to what makes them so great.

Stories that celebrate the wondrous, fantastical, and the beauty of Latinx cultures are here, so let's shine light on some of these magical authors and their books.

Karla Arenas Valenti talks with Laekan Zea Kemp, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Rex Ogle, and Julian Randall about kidlit Latinx fantasies and all the amazing reasons we should be paying attention to them.

In this special craft workshop, picture book authors e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Mirelle Ortega lead students on a journey to creating their own picture books.

Bring paper, writing and illustrating materials to follow along.

Join Newbery and Pura Belpré award-winning author Donna Barba Higuera as she discusses the power of oral history and storytelling.

Across communities family history is carried from generation to generation, across space, and time. Storytelling remains a familiar and ancestral way to guide us toward the future, while carrying the past with us. We are all cuentistas!

This panel will be moderated by debut author Alyssa Reynoso-Morris.

Join Latinx Kidlit Festival co-founders Mayra Cuevas, Ismée Williams and Alex Villasante for morning announcements, classroom set of books giveaways and details on how to apply for our new author and illustrator school visits fund.

In this intensive workshop for educators, literacy experts and co-founders of the En Comunidad Collective, Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera join forces with award-winning children’s book author Aida Salazar.

They will use their pedagogical experience, cultural background and creative skills to empower educators to create liberating spaces and experiences for multicultural students.

Herrera and España are the authors of the book En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Using their book as guide, they will talk about creating lessons that follow critical multicultural literacies framework in the classroom including:

• a focus on issues of language, literacies, and power

• recommending carefully-curated texts and multimodal resources featuring Latinx voices

• centering translanguaging pedagogy in order to improve language and content competences in school contexts by using resources from the learner's whole linguistic repertoire

Aida Salazar is an award-winning author, arts activist, and translator whose writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice. She is the author of the middle grade novels The Moon Within and Land of the Cranes. Aida is also a founding member of Las Musas, a Latinx kidlit author collective.

This workshop is brought to you by Penguin Books for Young Readers.

FOR WRITERS: Debut Authors, Expectations vs. Reality

Stressed about your debut book release? You are not alone! These authors have been in the trenches and survived to share their tales.

In this publishing panel, brought to you by The Authors Guild, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom, and M. Garcia Pena/Mia Garcia give you a behind-the-scenes look at:

• release publicity strategies that worked (and the ones that did not)

• pre-order campaigns

• the social media conundrum

• launch events

• book events and school visits

• what happens when your publisher is not involved

• what to do when your book doesn’t sell as expected

• how to handle rejection for following books

• keeping your peace of mind!

This event is brought to you by The Authors Guild.