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I had the most amazing experience at the Heartland Book Fest at the Kansas City Public Library’s Central branch last Saturday. The day was filled with activities for all ages, talks by authors, illustrators, and book lovers, writing workshops, movies, discussions, and storytime for kids.
I really enjoyed the session with Sarah Chapelle, who created the Taylor Swift Style blog and social media account and was thrilled to have her first book published. She talked about how much reading she does to learn about fashion and different designers and also shared how important reading and writing were to her growing up. She started her blog while in college studying journalism and was able to marry her love of writing, fashion, and Taylor Swift into a career. I knew the Swifties at my school would be excited to read her book, so I bought a copy for the library. I was even able to educate my husband (who went to the festival with me) on Taylor’s eras. It was interesting and educational for all!
After a lunch break (amazing steak tacos from Wrap It Up Tex Mex Grill), we browsed the tables of local authors, bookstores, and literacy-based organizations.
The day ended with the session I’d been waiting for: Mychal Threets and Stacey Abrams discussing the importance of libraries. Their conversation was wonderful! I’m so glad the book fest organizers made a video recording so I can watch it again and so that other people can listen and enjoy. I posted the video below (watch minutes 22-23 to hear the heart of Abrams's message). Stacey is the daughter of a librarian and is such an amazing advocate of libraries and freedom to read. She was so eloquent in her description of libraries as “buildings full of knowledge” and “a judgment-free zone.” I also loved her message of the importance of celebrating kids when they learn to read and when they seek knowledge because we want them to connect the feelings of achievement and celebration with reading and books. I wasn’t familiar with Stacey Abrams’s work as an author but definitely left as a fan. I even received a free copy of her new picture book Stacey Speaks Up for our elementary library. I absolutely loved the Heartland Book Fest and hope to go again! They had amazing speakers and gave away some fun swag, including a tote bag, stickers, and tea bags. One last thing: If you have never visited the Central Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, you need to. It is a stunningly beautiful building (we’re talking marble floors, pillars, and chandeliers) that used to be a bank. It has an art gallery and the current exhibit was artwork created by employees of the KC Public Library System across its various branches. Artwork on display included paintings, collage, music composed and played by a library employee (on video), a historical dress, photographs, an afghan, and more. The library also features a movie screening room, an amazing children’s area, and is across the street from (in my opinion) the world’s most beautiful parking garage because the outside is decorated with book spines and the stairs are shaped like a stack of books. For more photos of the library, take a look at this Book Riot blog post and this Flickr photo album.
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 At the amazing Library Palooza lit festival in San Antonio, they have a panel discussion featuring all of the visiting authors and illustrators, and then there are three sessions with individual authors. It was so hard to choose just three author sessions! I was very glad that the panel allowed me to hear from all of them. The book creators talked about their craft of writing and illustrating, their process, their work, and gave tips to aspiring writers and artists. Here are some highlights I took away from the panel and individual sessions.
Victoria Aveyard: You have to have a thick skin to be a writer. Show your work to other people! She started off writing fan fiction. She grew up in a very small town in New England where everyone knew her but didn't feel like she fit in. She moved to Los Angeles for college and got to figure out who she was. Feels writing is a compulsion, not a choice. Writes epic fantasy stories. The Red Queen series she describes as Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones. Fans have also compared it to the Selection series. She wrote the Realm Breaker trilogy because she wanted to see females as part of the Lord of the Rings-type quest. She describes it as Lord of the Rings meets Guardians of the Galaxy. The idea for Red Queen came to her as an image of a girl in an arena about to be killed when she electrocutes her executioner. This image led to so many questions: What has the girl done? How did she electrocute someone? What's happening in the world she is living in? Victoria loves maps and world building. She loves creating unusual names for people and places in her books and is well known for throwing in unexpected plot twists. She also shared that Red Queen is being adapted into a streaming series!
Kelly Yang: Take writing seriously like it's a sport. Put in the time and work to get better. She moved to China from the U.S. at age six. Her parents only had $200 when they came to U.S. and the whole family had to learn English. There were a lot of hard years where they moved a lot and didn't have much money. She said stories gave her hope. As a kid she didn't find books about people who looked like her, so now she is writing them! She did a lot of research on how social media changes the architecture of our brains for her new book, Finally Heard. She learned that when we watch videos online, our brain releases oxytocin, a chemical that encourages love and trust and helps people bond. This chemical makes people want to keep watching, even when they're actually bored and would rather do something else.  Marc Favreau: Started as a publisher. If you want to write, just do it! Follow through. Didn't start writing and publishing until he was in his 40s. Writes history for kids. Loves seeing kids disappear into literature. Says most history we learn in school comes from the perspective of white men. He seeks broader perspectives and has included the experiences of Japanese and African Americans in his books
Gabriela Epstein: In learning to draw, a great technique is to copy work of the masters as a learning exercise. You can apply the same idea to writing. She likes that she can choose when and where to work. She grew up as an athlete playing ice hockey which helped her grow a thick skin. When she was young, she drew political cartoons her dad published in the newspaper. Some of her work made people angry, and she liked that because it made her feel powerful. I was very excited to hear Gabriela speak for a few reasons. 1) She is a graphic novel author and illustrator and GNs are super popular! 2) Her graphic novel Invisible is on next year's William Allen White list. At her session, she shared tons of info and photos of the whole process of creating Invisible. I am looking forward to sharing what I learned with my students to get them even more excited about reading Invisible. 3) She has experience adapting someone else's story into a graphic novel (Baby-sitter's Club) and working on an original story, so she had lots to share! 4) She is funny, sarcastic, honesty, and completely engaging. 5) She shared her experience as a female person of color working in book creation.
I love literature festivals, and Library Palooza was outstanding. I got to spend the day with hundreds of fellow book lovers and learn from talented book creators. I even won some amazing books in a drawing! And I love meeting the authors and illustrators personally and getting books signed. Library Palooza was a fabulous experience. I soaked up a lot of learning and added several new books to my TBR list.
Over the weekend I attended Library Palooza , a literature festival held in San Antonio, TX, focused on middle grade and young adult literature. I had been following Library Palooza on Instagram for a while and was very impressed with the diversity of authors at the festival. When they announced the authors and illustrators being featured for 2024, I knew I had to ask my administrators to let me attend. Take a look at this incredible group of book creators! 
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Amy BrownleeLibrarian, reading teacher, presenter. Archives
February 2026
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