PopTop Stage Goings-on: Covering a variety of discussions, readings, and presentations throughout the conference. For the full schedule go to ow.ly/6yUk300nvOm.

FRIDAY, JUNE 24

Michael Eric Dyson (The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America) 4–5:15 p.m. Opening General Session. The Georgetown University professor and author offers tough talk and intriguing perceptions.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

Brit Bennett (The Mothers) Patricia Engel (The Veins of the Ocean) Patrick Phillips (Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America) Shola Richards (Making Work Work: The Positivity Solution for Any Work Environment) Wendy Walker (All Is Not Forgotten) Jacqueline Woodson (Another Brooklyn) 8:30–10 a.m. AAP/­LibraryReads ­Bookalicious Breakfast. Start the day with a nutritious serving of book talk. Hosted by LJ/SLJ Reviews editor Kiera Parrott. Register at ow.ly/t1IX3006UQH.

Ezekiel Boone (The Hatching) Christopher Buehlman (The Suicide Motor Club) JG Faherty (The Cure) Christopher Golden (Dead Ringers) Amy Lukavics (The Women in the Walls) Peter Adam Salomon (All Those Broken Angels) 8:30-10 a.m. United for Libraries. The Horror! The Horror! Authors Who Write To Scare. Don’t miss this scary collection of authors and books; signing to follow. Moderator LJ Prepub Alert editor Barbara Hoffert will be horrified if you don’t attend.

Margaret Atwood (The Tempest) 10:30–11:30 a.m. [CK times]Auditorium Speaker Series. The multi-award-winning author on grappling with a reinvention of Shakespeare.

John Hart (Redemption Road) 10:30-11:30 a.m. United for Libraries President’s Program. Hosted by United for Libraries president Ed McBride. Getting to the “Hart” of the matter will be an on-stage interview with LJ’s Barbara Hoffert. Signing to follow.

David Levithan (Another Day) 10:30–noon. YALSA and School Library Journal. The Margaret A. Edwards Award Brunch honoring lifetime achievement in writing for young adults:

Maya Penn (You Got This! Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World) 3:30–4:30 p.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. Teen entrepreneur, activist, and TED Talk phenom on her journey.

Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) Sally Mann (Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs) 8–10 p.m. Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. Meet the winners—a debut and a memoir. The featured speaker is poet Billy Collins. Sponsored by ­NoveList. Individual tickets/ tables for purchase.

SUNDAY, JUNE 26

Bryan Collier & Troy Andrews/Bill Taylor (illustrator winner, Trombone Shorty) R. Gregory Christie & Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (honor, The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore) Jerry Pinkney (Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award) Jason Reynolds (honor, The Boy in the Black Suit) Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely (honor, All American Boys) Christian Robinson & Matt de la Peña (honor, Last Stop on Market Street) Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon (honor, X) Rita Williams-Garcia (winner, Gone Crazy in Alabama) 7–9:30 a.m. EMIERT. Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast. Honoring the best in children’s and YA literature representing the African American experience, plus the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Ticketed event.

James Hannaham (Delicious Foods) Joy Harjo (Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems) Naomi Novik (Uprooted) Jim Shepard (The Book of Aron) Karin Slaughter (Pretty Girls) 8–10 a.m. RUSA. Literary Tastes: Celebrating the Best Reading of the Year. Authors discuss their work and the craft of writing. Book signing to ­follow.

Mary Kay Andrews (The Weekenders) Heather Graham (Deadly Fate) Shelley Shepard Gray (A Daughter’s Dream) Brenda Novak (The Secrets She Kept) Meg Rosoff (Jonathan Unleashed) Susan Wiggs (Family Tree) 8:30–10 a.m. United for Libraries. Isn’t It Romantic? This traditionally lively session includes a panel of passionate romance writers. LJ’s Barbara Hoffert will lovingly ­moderate.

Brad Meltzer (I Am Amelia Earhart; I Am Abraham Lincoln) 10:30–11:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. The thriller writer thinks young people should be encouraged to dream big and see how “thrilling” the future can be.

Ari Berman (Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America) Elizabeth Lesser (Marrow: A Love Story) Lydia Reeder (Dust Bowl Girls: A Team’s Quest for Basketball Glory) Chris Smith (The Daily Show [The Book]: An Oral History) 10:30-11:30 a.m. United for Libraries. Reads Like Fiction: Nonfiction You Can’t Put Down. A quartet of authors will reveal all. It’s true that LJ’s Barbara Hoffert will moderate.

Nathan Hill (The Nix) Joe Ide (IQ) Jung Yun (Shelter) Stephanie Knipper (The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin) Meg Little Reilly (We Are Unprepared) Reba Riley (Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome: One Woman’s Desperate, Funny, and Healing Journey to Explore 30 Religions by Her 30th Birthday) 1-2:30 p.m. United for Libraries. First Author, First Book. Get a signed first edition from tomorrow’s stars. LJ’s Barbara Hoffert will moderate—and not for the first time.

Margarita Engle (Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings; A Memoir) Rafael Lopez (illustrator award, Drum Dream Girl) 1–4 p.m. ALSC and ­REFORMA. 2016 Pura Belpré Award & 20th Anniversary Celebración. Medal winners and honorees for a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

Children’s & Teen Author Speed Dating Event 3–4 p.m. AAP Children’s Library Marketing Committee. Orlando Rosen Center Hotel (Grand D). An outstanding roster of authors, from Kathleen Baldwin (Exile for Dreamers) to Linda Williams Jackson (Midnight Without a Moon). Sign up at ow.ly/7r2K3006M5g.

Diane Guerrero (In the Country We Love: My Family Divided) 3:30–5:30 p.m. ALA President’s Program. A White House Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization, the actress (Jane the Virgin) has a lot to say about ­immigration.

Ann E. Burg (Unbound: A Novel in Verse) Robert L. Forbes (Beast Friends Forever) Lee Bennett Hopkins (Jumping off Library Shelves) Madeleine Kuderick (Kiss of Broken Glass) Marilyn Singer (Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths) Carole Boston Weatherford (Freedom in Congo Square) 4–4:50 p.m. Poetry Blast 2016. A diverse group of poets will read from new or forthcoming works for kids and teens.

Dave Barry (Best. State. Ever: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland) Tara Clancy (The Clancys of Queens: A Memoir) Paula Poundstone (I Heart Jokes: Paula Tells Them in Boston) Nora McInerny Purmort (It’s Okay To Laugh [Crying Is Cool Too]) Phoebe Robinson (You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain) 5:30–7:30 p.m. United for Libraries. The Laugh’s on Us. Wine-and-cheese with Pulitzer Prize–winning humorist Dave Barry and some very funny people. Book signing. Buy early. Tickets: $65. Event code: UNI4. Sponsored by SAGE Publishing.

MONDAY, JUNE 27

Jazz Jennings (Being Jazz: My Life as a [Transgender] Teen) 8:30–9:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. Hear from one of the youngest voices in the national conversation on gender identity.

Christopher Barzak (honor, Wonders of the Invisible World) Alex Gino (George) Bill Konigsberg (The Porcupine of Truth) Cory Silverberg & Fiona Smyth (honor, Sex Is a Funny Word: A Book About Bodies, Feelings, and YOU) 10–noon. GLBTRT. Stonewall Book Award–Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award for English-language children’s and YA books relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience.

Holly Robinson Peete, RJ Peete, and Ryan Elizabeth Peete (Same but Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express) 10:30–11:30 a.m. Auditorium Speaker Series. Author/actress/activist Peete and her children discuss the challenges and accomplishments of a life with autism.

Kelley Armstrong (City of the Lost) Mark Billingham (Die of Shame) Kate Carlisle (Books of a Feather: A Bibliophile Mystery) Jenn McKinlay (Vanilla Beaned: A Cupcake Bakery Mystery) Lisa Turner (Devil Sent the Rain) 10:30–11:30 a.m. AAP/LibraryReads Mystery Authors Monday. Enjoy conversation and conundrums from these mystery-crafters. LJ’s Stephanie Klose will be hosting. Register at ow.ly/kDss3006Tdk.

Jayne Entwhistle (narrator, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust) Lisa Fenn (Carry On: A Story of Resilience, Redemption, and an Unlikely Family) Shari Lapena (The Couple Next Door) Susan Mallery (Daughters of the Bride) Imbolo Mbue (Behold the Dreamers) Thomas Mullen (Darktown) 2–4 p.m. United for Libraries. Gala Author Tea. Tea and much more. Book signing to follow. Get tickets ($65) early. Event code: UNI3. Sponsored by ReferenceUSA

TUESDAY, JUNE 28

Jamie Lee Curtis (with illustrator Laura Cornell, This Is Me: The Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From) 10–11:30 a.m. Closing General Session. The actress and author “brings her whimsical verse to the subject of immigration and identity” as another ALA draws to a close.