ALAN, the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE, is an extension of National Council of Teachers of English. At ALAN, attendees receive around 40 YA books. The attendees get a box of books, which they then unpack and sort into piles: want to get signed, want to keep, and want to trade. While attendees sort through their books and update their GoodReads profiles, author panels speak on their books and issues covered in YALit. The authors then sign books and meet the people who love them enough to bring their works into their classrooms.
One really cool part of ALAN was hearing the authors speak about their books and topics in their books. After the authors spoke, we were able to meet them and have them sign copies of their books. My favorite author encounter was with Jason Reynolds. I got to tell him that All-American Boys changed my life, and he was very thankful that I told him so. It was so cool to see that authors are just regular people, which gives me hope for writing.
The video above is a short recap of my time at ALAN and what this experience meant to me as a reader and as a teacher. I would love to go back next year!