Events

In the opening general session of the ALA annual meeting, journalist and author of THE 1619 PROJECT, A NEW ORIGIN STORY Nikole Hannah-Jones discussed the origins of and responses to the project and the upcoming book. In conversation with publisher and eic of One World Chris Jackson, she made no mention of her tenure rejection at UNC, but focused instead on the original New York Times Magazine piece and how it challenges education and patriotism. The origins began when as a teenager in Iowa, she took the one Black studies class that was offered at her high school, the first […]

In a Winter Institute keynote, futurist author Brian David Johnson walked booksellers through the process detailed in his book, The Future You: Break Through the Fear and Build the Life You Want, while also fielding specific questions from ABA president Allison Hill. Johnson urged booksellers to start by giving themselves permission to create what he called their “future story,” by getting really specific about what they want for their businesses as the world seeks to normalize after the pandemic. Then, he said, write it down. The remaining steps: Find your people: Who are your partners in creating this future? Share […]

Barack Obama kicked off the opening of the Winter Institute at 10:40 this morning, after a montage reviewing the “extraordinary journey” of the past year, as ABA president Alison Hill put it in her later remarks. Obama’s short recorded message thanked booksellers for “expanding my mind, filling my spirit, and broadening my sense of possibility,” saying that, “what happened to me, you’re providing for so many other kids and teenager and adults around the world.” Booksellers, he said, aren’t selling only books but “knowledge, discovery, wisdom, empathy, access to thoughts and worlds that readers have never experienced before. And by […]