Picture Book Authors:

Greg Neri

Kelly Greenawalt

Matthew Holm

Steve Light

Kirk Reedstrom

Middle Grade Authors

Graci Kim

Clare Vanderpool

Jason Platt

Adam Borba

Angela Cervantes

Young Adult

Jade Adia

Jeffrey Brown

Dhonielle Clayton

Sayantani Das Gupta

Sharon Cameron 

Authors will rotate throughout the day.  The full Schedule is below.  

   Picture Book Author Presentations 

    Middle Grade Author Presentations 

   Young Adult Author Presentations 

   Picture Book Author Book Signings

    Middle Grade Author Book Signings

   Young Adult Author Book Signings 

Activities

Where's Waldo? 

Face Painting

Photobooth by Bliss After Bloom

Book Craft: Write and illustrate your own book!

Park Pals will be onsite with games!

Food Vendors

Golden Oven Pizza

Happy Baby Ice Cream

Love Me Foods

Saul's MX Kitchen

Henderson Libraries 

Henderson Police Department

Nevada Humanities

Vegas PBS

Plot Twist Publisher

Mystic Publishers, Inc

Clark County Department of Family Services

Nevada Shakespeare Festival

Writer's Block

Spread the Word Nevada

Nevada School of Inquiry

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada

Defense of Democracy Southern Nevada

Enchanted Trees and Things

The Book and the Bean

Celebrate Dental and Braces

Additional Authors:

Ken Lamug

Temple Kenyon

Vickie Ann Bush

Bill Franz

Books by Casey

Candid Comments

Book Category: Middle Grade

Presentation Title: The Arts of Making Movies and Writing Middle Grade

Presentation Description: The Arts of Making Movies and Writing Middle Grade
Adam Borba will discuss his careers as a film producer and an author, as well as the challenges of bringing stories to life through both mediums. As a producer, he helped oversee the development of screenplays, physical production, and post production on a handful of films for Walt Disney Pictures, and he’s now working on his fourth novel for young readers. There are as many similarities as differences between writing for middle grade and producing all-audience films. Many lessons he’s learned in one profession are applicable to the other, particularly structure, conciseness, character arcs, and theme. Adam will share how he grew as a storyteller from childhood to now—from creating puppet shows and short stories, to developing movies, and ultimately to writing middle grade. The talk will explore how each phase provided a stronger footing for the step ahead and how you’re never too young (or too old) to get started. During the fun, interactive, and informative talk, Adam will open up for questions.

Biography: Adam Borba is the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade novels OUTSIDE NOWHERE, THE MIDNIGHT BRIGADE, and the upcoming THIS AGAIN, all from Little Brown Books for Young Readers. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and the William Morris Agency mailroom.

When Adam isn’t writing, he spends his time developing and producing movies, most of which have been based on beloved children’s books for Walt Disney Studios. As a producer, he oversees the development of screenplays, physical production, and post production. He walked planks and fought pirates as an executive producer on an adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s PETER PAN & WENDY, directed by David Lowery, with whom Adam chased a mythical creature through the woods of New Zealand for the reimagining of PETE’S DRAGON. Adam worked on the adaptations of Stephan Pastis’s TIMMY FAILURE, Madeleine L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME (which he executive produced), and Michael J. Tougias & Casey Sherman’s THE FINEST HOURS. He also worked on upcoming adaptations of Megan Whalen Turner’s Newbery Honor winning THE THIEF and Jonathan Auxier’s THE NIGHT GARDENER. His work has appeared in movie theaters worldwide, on Disney+, online, in print, and in local and national media.

Book Category: Picture Book/Middle Grade

Book Titles

The Cursed Moon (Scholastic Press; Fall 2023)
Lead With Your Heart (American Girl Books; 2021)
Encanto: Junior Novelization (Disney; 2021)

Presentation Title: From Flashlight Girl to Published Children's Author

Presentation Description: Angela reveals all her secrets on how she went from a flashlight kid to a published children's author. Presentation follows the author's journey to publication of her debut novel, Gaby, Lost and Found,  working with Disney for the junior novelizations for COCO and Encanto, to writing her first scary novel for children, The Cursed Moon.

Awards/Career Highlights
•• The Cursed Moon is published by Scholastic Press on September 5, 2023.
• Encanto: The Junior Novel is published by Disney Random House on Oct. 12, 2021
• Maritza: Lead With Your Heart is published by American Girl Books on March 30, 2021.
• Angela’s short story Yoli Calderón and Principal Hayes is included in the Mexican American anthology Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America.
• Lety Out Loud is named a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book Award.
• Lety Out Loud is published by Scholastic Press on Feb. 26, 2019
• Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is named as a finalist for the Texas Bluebonnet Master List (2019-2020)
• Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is published by Scholastic Press on March 27, 2018
• Coco: The Junior Novel is published by Disney Random House on Oct. 10, 2017
• Angela attends the Hollywood premiere of the Disney/Pixar movie, Coco, on Nov. 9, 2017
• Allie, First at Last is published by Scholastic on March 30, 2016
• Gaby, Lost and Found is published by Scholastic on July 29, 2013
• In 2008, The Kansas City Star Magazine named Angela an Emerging Artists.
• In 2007, Angela won third place for Creative Nonfiction in the Missouri Review’s audio competition for her story “House of Women.”
• In 2007, Angela’s short story “Ten Hail Marys” wins the Kansas City Voices Best of Prose Award (Whispering Prairie Press)
• In 2005, Angela’s short story, Pork-Chop Sandwiches is published in “Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul”
• In 2001, along with Chicana poetry group Las Poetas, Angela opened for El Vez at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City.

Biography: Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of popular children’s novels like Lety Out Loud, which was a 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book. Her other books include Maritza: Lead with Your Heart (American Girls book); Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring; Gaby, Lost and Found; Allie, First at Last. Angela’s latest novel, The Cursed Moon, is the author’s first book in the children’s horror genre and is available now.

In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelization for Disney/Pixar’s animated-film, Coco and Disney’s animated film, Encanto.

Angela’s short stories have been featured in Chicken Soup for The Latino Soul and the Young Adult anthology Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America.

Angela is a daughter of a retired elementary-school teacher who instilled in her a love for reading and storytelling. Angela writes from her home in Kansas City. When she’s not writing, Angela enjoys reading, running, gazing up at clouds, and taking advantage of Taco Tuesdays.

Book Category: Middle Grade/Young Adult

Presentation Title: Books I Have Loved and I Swear Loved Me Back – The Transformative Power of Story

We’ve all heard that to be a writer, you must first be a reader.  And we know from experience that stories have power—to touch, to heal, to transform.  In this talk, we’ll journey into our reading past to the books that provided joy, comfort, even friendship and discover how stories become stepping stones in the writing life.

Biography: Clare Vanderpool is the award-winning author of two novels: Moon Over Manifest and Navigating Early.  Moon Over Manifest, her debut novel, was awarded the prestigious 2011 John Newbery Award which is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Clare is remarkably the first debut author in thirty years to win the Newbery Medal. Her second novel Navigating Early also reached critical acclaim and was named a Printz Honor Book for Young Adult Fiction by the American Library Association.

Clare’s books have both hit the New York Times best seller list as well as the Book Sense best seller list. The recipient of much critical-acclaim, including seven starred reviews, a top ten Historical Fiction Kid’s Book by Instructor Magazine, a Junior Library Guild selection, and a Golden Spur award, Clare’s writing has connected with readers young and old.  Interviews with Clare have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and almost all of the media outlets across the nation have covered her writing career.  

Book Category: Young Adult/Middle Grade

Presentation Title: The Messy Lives of Teens

Presentation Description: Fiction for teens has a responsibility to capture the complicated, complex, and often messy lives of young adults and impart truth, hope, and validation. How to write true things and keep them interesting whether contemporary, thriller, historical, short stories, or fantasy.  

Biography:  Dhonielle Clayton is a New York Times bestselling author of The Conjureverse series, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author of Blackout, Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the President and founder of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, IP story companies creating diverse books for all ages where she’s concepted and sold over 55 books, including the Tristan Strong series, Promise Boys, Love Radio, the Love Sugar Magic series, and more. She’s an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief.

Book Category: Middle Grade

Presentation Title: The Magical Mythology of "Me"

Presentation Description: Graci Kim talks about how we can create our own magical myths, which we can harness to become the heroes of our own life stories.

Presentation Books: The Last Fallen Realm

Awards: 
2022 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. 
2021 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Children's Book

Bio: Graci Kim is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Last Fallen Star, The Last Fallen Moon, and The Last Fallen Realm. As featured in TIME Magazine for Kids, and dubbed a “sparkling yarn” by Entertainment Weekly, the Korean mythology-inspired trilogy has been optioned by the Disney Channel for a television series, and is being translated into multiple languages. It was named a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Children’s Book, an Amazon Best Book, an Indigo Best Book, a Barnes & Noble Young Reader Pick, and a Whitcoulls Kids Top 50. In 2022, Graci was awarded the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. 
In a previous life, Graci was a New Zealand diplomat, a cooking show host, and once ran a business that turned children’s drawings into cuddly toys. She now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with her husband and daughter.

Book Category: Middle Grade, Picture Book and Young Adult

Presentation Title: My Antartica 

Presentation Description: 
Follow Coretta Scott King Honor–winning author G. Neri to the end of the world in a captivating travel presentation that explores Antarctica through the curiosity and wonder of his inner child—the kid who dreamed of one day becoming an explorer. 

Biography: Greg Neri is the award-winning author of many books for young readers, including Concrete Cowboy and Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrap the World. He is a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers grantee and a founding co-chair of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Collective. He received an honorary doctorate from SUNY Cobleskill for his writing and his contributions to polar science outreach. G. Neri lives with his family on the Gulf Coast of Florida and can be found online at gneri.com.

Book Category: Middle School/Graphic Novel

Presentation Books:

Middle School Misadventures

Middle School Misadventures Operation: Hat Heist!

Middle School Misadventures Dance Disaster

Mister & Me of Castles & Kings

Mister & Me Dream

Biography:  Like most artists out there in the world, Jason Platt was known as that kid in the class who could draw. He was the one who could draw Charles M. Schulz or Jim Davis’ characters on a dime and make the other kids smile. (This did get him in trouble during recess once. Apparently selling your sketches on the playground is frowned upon? Who knew?)

As Jason grew older, his tastes expanded. He became enthralled with Mad Magazine’s Mort Drucker and famed movie poster artist Drew Struzan. He would always pick up his copy of Mad at the grocery store and study Drucker’s amazing line work before he even read a word of copy. He would find himself admiring Struzan’s work for what seemed like ages, wondering what adventure the movie was going to be about. He realized how much art affected him.

Also being a kid who loved to write, Jason would often find himself imagining what would happen in the book he was holding after his eyes feasted on its cover art. You could say he was that person who would buy a book for its cover. That, and a natural born storyteller.

Later working as both a professional actor and puppeteer, Jason focused on the art of illustration and graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (or SCAD, for those in the know). While trained in several styles, he’s particularly drawn to the art of humorous and children’s illustration (no pun intended).

Jason tells people he’s in the business of making people happy. He can’t think of a better way to spend his days, can you?

Jason grew up in Durham, NC and he and his family live in Davenport, IA with their cat (who insists on being his co-worker).

Book Category: Graphic Novel

Presentation Title:  Making Comics with Jeffrey Brown

Presentation Description:  Jeffrey Brown takes the audience on a short tour through his career as a cartoonist – from making his own illustrated books in elementary school to creating his bestselling Star Wars book Darth Vader and Son and beyond. Followed by a lively question and answers session, where Jeffrey will try to draw as many of his answers as he can!

Presentation Books:
The Mandalorian and Child
Batman & Robin & Howard: Summer Breakdown
Lucy & Andy Neanderthal

Awards:
• Two time Eisner Award winner (Darth Vader and Son, Vader's Little Princess)
• #1 New York Times Bestseller (Darth Vader and Son, with various other books also on the list not as #1)
• Junior Library Guild selection (Lucy & Andy Neanderthal)
• Ignatz Award (I Am Going To Be Small)

Biography:  Jeffrey Brown is a Chicago cartoonist best known for his bestselling Star Wars books Darth Vader and Son and Jedi Academy. He is the author and artist of dozens of comics and graphic novels.

Book Category: Picture Book

Presentation Books: 

I Can Help

I am Super Girl

I am Curious 

Biography: Kelly Greenawalt is a bestselling children’s book author, wife, and mother of seven from La Porte, Texas. She is a freckle-faced handful with a vivid imagination and a passion for storytelling.  Her Princess Truly series was inspired by her daughters. What started as a small, independently published project blossomed into something TRULY magical. Princess Truly’s adventures captivated children all over the world and caught the attention of Scholastic, who now publishes the series.

Book Category: Picture Book

Presentation Title: The Story of Duck & Moose

Presentation Description: Kirk Reedstrom will deliver an engaging presentation about the inspiration behind the Duck & Moose graphic novel series, and the process of creating a book from idea to finished illustration. The presentation will include a book reading, drawing demonstration, early sketches of Duck & Moose books, and images of Reedstrom’s childhood art. A Q&A will follow the presentation.

Biography: Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Kirk Reedstrom spent most of his childhood drawing and reading Calvin & Hobbes. He studied at Centenary College of Louisiana where he interned with William Joyce at Moonbot Studios, and fell in love with children’s literature before becoming a bookseller at Blue Willow Bookshop. Kirk now spends most of his time doodling in Shreveport, Louisiana with his wife, Sarah Duet, and their temperamental cat, Nash. Kirk is the creator of Somebody Write This Book, a monthly-ish newsletter of drawing and story prompts, an active SCBWI Member, trained as a Primetime Storyteller with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and his comics zines have been featured in Salon, Relief Journal, The Quaranzine, and All Things Considered. Duck And Moose is his debut graphic novel series. 

Book Category: Picture Book

Presentation Title: “This is Babymouse!”

Presentation Description: Matthew Holm talks about how he became a children's book creator, how he and his sister, Jennifer, developed the award-winning graphic novel series, Babymouse, and how they work on a book from start to finish.

Awards: 
2013 Eisner Award - Best Publication for Early Readers - Babymouse for President
2006 ALA Notable Children's Book - Babymouse: Queen of the World! (first graphic novel ever to be awarded)
Multiple CBC Children's Choice Book Awards
2006 Gryphon Award Honor Winner - Babymouse: Queen of the World!

Biography: Matthew Holm is the New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator of some 50 books for children. He is the co-creator (with his sister, Jennifer) of a number of graphic novels, including the Eisner Award-winning BABYMOUSE series and the SQUISH series (now an animated show streaming on HBO Max) from Random House Children’s Books and the SUNNY SIDE UP series from Scholastic Graphix. He also co-wrote and illustrated the middle-grade novel MARVIN AND THE MOTHS with Jonathan Follett. He currently lives with his wife and dog in New York's Hudson Valley.

Book Category: Young Adult/Middle Grade

Presentation Title:  Reimagining Jane Austen: Regency Stories in Which All of Us Belong 

Presentation Description: It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone loves a good Jane Austen adaptation. The recent spate of color conscious Regency adaptations make room for all of us to see ourselves in the pages of these beloved stories. Both Debating Darcy (Scholastic 2022) and Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute (Scholastic 2023) are stories which re-cast Austen's beloved tales, Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, with characters of color and put them in a contemporary setting. As one of the characters in Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute declares, "Not all of us, growing up, were allowed to dream of beautiful things. Not all of us, growing up, were allowed to think of ourselves as the protagonist of the story. [But] all of us deserve to be a part of the fantasy. All of us deserve to celebrate the magic that has always been there, inside ourselves.”

Awards:

Booklist Youth Editor’s Choice 2018
School Library Journal Best Books of 2018
NY Magazine Best Gift Pick of 2018
New York Times Best Selling Author
Bank Street Book of the Year
EB White Read Aloud Honor Book 

Biography: Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed, Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which—The Serpent’s Secret—was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an EB White Read Aloud Honor Book. She is also the author of two other series set in the Kingdom Beyond multiverse, the anticolonial and Indian revolution inspired Fire Queen series and the younger middle grade environmentally themed adventures, Secrets of the Sky. She is also the author of She Persisted: Virginia Apgar, as well as two Jane Austen inspired contemporary novels, Debating Darcy and Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute. Sayantani is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she’s not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books, and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com. 

Book Category: Young Adult

Presentation Title: The Power of Story

Presentation Description: Sharon Cameron will discuss her journey as a writer and her three most recent books, THE LIGHT IN HIDDEN PLACES, BLUEBIRD, and ARTIFICE, sharing her moment of discovery when the message she thought she was offering to the world turned out to be a message she was also giving to herself. The truth inside story can powerful, even for the one who wrote it.

Biography: Sharon Cameron is the #1 NYT best-selling author of seven award-winning novels, including THE LIGHT IN HIDDEN PLACES (2020), BLUEBIRD (2021) and her newest book ARTIFICE, publishing November 7, 2023. Sharon’s books have won the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Westchester Fiction Award, the Junior Library Guild’s Gold Standard Award, earned starred reviews from Booklist, SLJ, Book Page and Kirkus, and have been chosen for Indie Next Top Ten, YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, Audible Best Books, and numerous state award nominations. THE LIGHT IN HIDDEN PLACES was a 2020 Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and has been sold in 19 countries.

Book Category: Picture Book/Illustrator

Presentation Books:

A Spider Called Itsy, Road Trip!

A Whiskers Hollow Adventure

Builders and Breakers

Presentation Description: Join Steve Light as he shows his inspiration and creation of worlds within the pages of picture books. See his sketches, models, and character designs for some of his many books.

Biography: Steve Light is the author and illustrator of many books for children. His book Have You Seen My Dragon? won the first Mathical Award as well as being an ALA notable and Parent’s Choice winner. He also created the book SWAP! which won a STEM award. Steve’s children’s book illustration art has been in many Society of Illustrators Celebrating The Original Art Shows. Steve also has work in The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and The Cooper Hewitt Museum part of the Smithsonian. 

Steve Light grew up in an enchanted place known as New Jersey. He went on to study Illustration at Pratt Institute, where he met master artist and teacher Dave Passalacqua. Upon graduating he did some corporate illustrations for companies such as: AT&T, Sony Films, and the New York Times Book Review.

Steve travels far and wide reading and telling stories most notably at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, The Milwaukee Museum of Art, Mazza Museum and various ALA conferences.

Steve loves to draw. Steve loves fountain pens and collects these ancient artifacts in order to draw with them. He also loves making things. Steve usually makes things like sculptures and toys out of wood. Steve especially loves sharing his art and stories with children, because truth be told, Steve is a big kid at heart.

Book Category: Young Adult/Middle Grade

Presentation Title: Gentrification Sucks with Jade Adia

Presentation Description: Why are our cities run the way that they are? What can we do when we want to change them? Join author Jade Adia in an interactive conversation about urban policy, storytelling, and how we can think outside the box to resist the pressures of capitalism.

Biography: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jade Adia writes stories about Black nerds, mischief, and home. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Ethnicity, Race & Migration, and a certificate in Human Rights. She recently survived law school, graduating with a specialization in Critical Race Studies. She is the author of There Goes the Neighborhood (out now) and Our Shouts Echo (coming August 27, 2024).

Vendor and sponsorship opportunities for this event are now closed.  If you interested in participating in future events, please reach out to our special events team.  

Contact us at: specialevents@cityofhenderson.com