Litapalooza—What's the deal?
Reflections on the literacy love fest
Since folks seemed to enjoy our NCTE—What’s the deal? post, I thought I’d do one on Litapalooza, which I just got back from!
What is it?
Litapalooza is aptly described as a “literacy love fest” for authors and illustrators. This year, there were 60+ authors and illustrators and hundreds of educators. Hosted by Anderson’s Bookshop with organizers Lorie Barber, Steph McHugh, and Katie Reilley, the festival takes place in Naperville, IL.
The first day kicked off with a keynote discussion. This year’s speakers were Dan Santat and Minh Lê, talking about their newest book, BUILT TO LAST.
The rest of the day was filled with panel sessions that the organizers put together. There were three time slots and you could choose how many you wanted to sign up for ahead of the event. (I did all three.)
There was a bookshop that Anderson’s set up on site, and the day concluded with a massive author signing session!
The morning of the second day was an open format with discussions proposed in the morning that authors volunteered to join on the fly. Though it felt a little chaotic and stressful at the start, everybody was so supportive and talented that every session was wonderful and compelling. The morning concluded with another signing session.
The afternoon of the second day was a new event that launched this year, called Kidlitapalooza. Authors ran workshops with kids, followed by, you guessed it, another signing session!
What’s it like?
The festival felt very intimate and supportive. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with other authors and book-loving educators. I loved hearing from teachers about what’s going on in their classrooms and sharing ideas in a collaborative environment about how to best support students. The entire festival really felt like a safe space for thoughtful conversation. I also enjoyed meeting the students at Kidlitapalooza! Though I only had four kids in my workshop, I did feel like I made a connection with them and the signing was so much fun, as kids ran around getting every kidlit author to sign their notebooks or bookbags or whatever else.
Is it worth it?
Litapalooza has been my favorite bookish event so far! I felt like I was able to have genuine conversations with creators and educators centered around our love of books. I connected and learned from my fellow panel members. I learned from educators about what works for them and what they need. It was an honor to get to sign books alongside so many wonderful kidlit creators—and the store sold out of my books! With publisher presence from Scholastic and Sourcebooks, I was able to connect with some of my publicists in a less chaotic environment than NCTE.
How did I get invited?
There’s information here from the organizers, but I’m sure there are many paths to getting invited to Litapalooza. For me, I had gained some educator attention on social media, so when I met Steph McHugh (one of the organizers of the event) at NCTE in 2023, she was familiar with me and my books. We hit it off and she suggested that I come to Litapalooza, so I connected her with my publicist and the rest is history! However, it looks like there are changes coming for next year…
The future is unclear.
As I wrote this post, I was musing about how I would love to go again either next year or the year after if the organizers would like me to join. HOWEVER, one of the organizers just put out this post, which makes the future unclear. This makes me terribly sad, as the event was so wonderful and these three organizers were definitely at the heart of it! I can’t imagine it being the same without these three involved, or if it will even happen at all. I do look forward to seeing what’s next for the three of them, as they are such supportive and wonderful book advocates. I’m so grateful that I got to be a part of their event this year, and hope that something equally wonderful is in the works for the future.
Did any of you also attend Litapalooza and have thoughts to share? Or any questions about the experience? I hope this post has been helpful!
It looks wonderful! Filled with positive, creative energy ! I hope they continue it!!!
What a cool event--both for creators, and for kids! Will keep an eye out for it in the future (and crossing my fingers it continues)!