Snow Days 2022 Program

If you are interested in prioritizing community engagement for societal change, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. A panel of booksellers who represent stores with strong missions will take you behind the scenes of the media coverage and social media posts that reflect the success of their work. They will discuss the very real and substantive processes they have in place to create change. If you want to hear about the actionable steps mission-driven stores take for success, this is the conversation for you!

Led by author and expert Jason Thompson, this session will help stores be effective in their commitment to representation, equity, and access. A DEI audit checklist will help stores look at every aspect of their business — from hiring and training to signage, social media, and inventory — through a DEI lens, and a discussion of goals and metrics will help ensure measurable success. Jason Thompson is a successful and experienced diversity officer that has developed and led diversity programs in higher education, sports, healthcare, and tech. He has been quoted by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, and CNN. His education session for the ABA Board was extremely well received with some directors calling it the best session on this topic they’ve participated in.

Download the handouts for the session here.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

Find the link to access the Virtual Galley Room, sponsored by PartnerShip®, filled with ARCs of upcoming titles from Snow Days sponsors. Learn more about our publisher sponsors and business partners. Enjoy the Poetry Theater and relax your eyes with a 5-minute on demand video co-sponsored by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and the Children's Book Council.

Post-COVID-19, how do we start planning for the future? Especially when it feels impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year or in the next decade. And how do we find a way to face that future with optimism? Join future forecaster, New York Times bestselling author, and designer of alternate reality games, Jane McGonigal, as she discusses her new book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things that Seem Impossible Today. McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience, as well as gaming strategies, to show us how to train our brains to imagine the unimaginable and to offer us new tools to help us recover our confidence, creativity, and hope. McGonigal’s work designing future simulations of world problems like climate-change weather events, helps participants imagine and prepare for the world's future. McGonigal joins us today to help us start imagining and preparing for the future of bookselling.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Elizabeth Acevedo is the author of three award-winning novels: The Poet X—which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award—With the Fire on High, and Clap When You Land. She is a National Poetry Slam champion and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo lives with her partner in Washington, DC. Find her at www.acevedowrites.com

Join your colleagues and members of the ABA Board to discuss what you learned from Jane McGonigal’s keynote and begin to imagine the future of bookselling from a new perspective.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

This will be a candid and balanced information session on the nuts and bolts of unions from both an employer and employee perspective by attorneys with experience with both sides of this issue. Booksellers who would like to send questions in advance can access this form. All responses received will remain anonymous–even ABA staff won’t be able to see who filled in the form. This session is being set up as a Zoom webinar to maintain attendees' anonymity; The participant tab will not be available. Q&A during the event will be anonymous as well. Access this Zoom webinar by attending Snow Days. (Zoom link will be shared periodically in the chat on the Hopin platform.)

Jon Hiatt is a union-side labor lawyer. From 1995 to 2017 he was General Counsel and then Chief of Staff at the AFL-CIO. Previously he served as General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union, and before that he represented a variety of local unions while practicing in Boston, Massachusetts. He currently serves as counsel to the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network at the Solidarity Center in Washington, DC, and is a visiting scholar at the University of California's Berkeley Labor Center.

Mark R. Reiss represents and counsels clients in a range of labor and employment matters, with particular emphasis in collective bargaining and labor arbitrations. He practices before various federal, state and local labor and employment agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the New York State Division of Human Rights, the Connecticut Human Rights and Opportunities Commission and the Department of Labor (DOL).

Each Rep Picks room will have up to six publishers presenting their top picks from upcoming seasons. Publisher reps will present live on camera and can answer questions in the chat. Booksellers will be assigned Rep Picks rooms which will appear in the “Sessions” area of the Hopin platform a few minutes before the session starts. Rep Picks title packets will be available for download prior to the event. A different set of publishers will present in the rooms on March 9.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Kim Dower has published four collections of poetry: Air Kissing on Mars, Slice of Moon, Last Train to the Missing Planet, and Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave. Her award-winning poems are included in several anthologies. She was the City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from October 2016–October 2018 and teaches workshops for Antioch University, UCLA Writers’ Extension, and the West Hollywood Library. Kim’s literary publicity company, Kim-from-L.A., helps authors around the country get the word out about their wonderful books.

Join a panel of booksellers as they examine the intersections of race, literature, and entrepreneurship. The panelists will explore the importance of their contributions to the bookselling ecosystem, activism, and what is required to create diverse, equitable environments.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir How We Fight for Our Lives, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection Prelude to Bruise, winner of the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, The New York Times and GQ, and he has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air, Pop Culture Happy Hour, It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, and All Things Considered. He worked at BuzzFeed as the founding LGBT editor and Executive Culture editor before hosting #AMtoDM for two years. Saeed is known for his capacity to bring humor, candor, and, of course, ferocity to seemingly every news and pop cultural topic under the sun.

If you missed the live keynote session earlier (or if you want to enjoy it again), join us for this evening broadcast of the morning conversation. Although this is not a live event, the chat will be open so you can connect with colleagues and attendees.

Snow Days registration not required to attend. This is an affinity group for booksellers and bookstore owners who identify with the LGBTQIA2S+ community to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. This conversation will be hosted by an attendee and ABA staff will not be in attendance. While allies are greatly appreciated, those who do not identify personally as a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community should not plan to attend. Booksellers interested in participating can register here.

Snow Days registration not required to attend. This is an affinity group for booksellers and bookstore owners who identify with the Neurodiverse community to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. This conversation will be hosted by an attendee and ABA staff will not be in attendance. While allies are greatly appreciated, those who do not identify personally as a member of the Neurodiverse community should not plan to attend. Booksellers interested in participating can register here.

Find the link to access the Virtual Galley Room, sponsored by PartnerShip®, filled with ARCs of upcoming titles from Snow Days sponsors. Learn more about our publisher sponsors and business partners. Enjoy the Poetry Theater and relax your eyes with a 5-minute on demand video co-sponsored by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and the Children's Book Council.

Join Danny Caine, bookseller, poet, owner of Raven Bookstore (Lawrence, KS), and ABA Board Member, as he moderates a conversation with celebrated poets: Linda Gregerson, Ecco at HarperCollins; Saeed Jones, Coffee House Press; Ada Limón, Milkweed Editions; Paul Tran, Viking Press; and Amber McBride, Feiwel & Friends at Macmillan Children’s Publishers.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Paul Tran received their BA in history from Brown University and MFA in poetry from Washington University in St. Louis, where they were the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow and Senior Poetry Fellow. Their awards include a 2021 Fellowship in Literature from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. Currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, Paul’s work appears in The New Yorker, Poetry, and elsewhere. All the Flowers Kneeling is their first collection.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Noor Hindi (she/her/hers) is a Palestinian-American poet and reporter. She is a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow. Follow her on Twitter @MyNrhindi.

All Snow Days attendees are invited to gather in Kumospace for a reception with our featured Wednesday authors. Join your colleagues in this virtual space to mix and mingle, and keep an eye out for your favorite authors. Grab a beverage and a snack and join us!

Each Rep Picks room will have up to 6 publishers presenting their top picks from upcoming seasons. Publisher reps will present live on camera and can answer questions in the chat. Booksellers will be assigned Rep Picks rooms which will appear in the “Sessions” area of the Hopin platform a few minutes before the session starts. Rep Picks title packets will be available for download prior to the event. A different set of publishers will present in the rooms on March 8.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

Watch for an invitation to sign up for one-to-one appointments with Publishers and ABA Business Partners featured in the Expo.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Rupi Kaur is a poet, artist, and performer. As a 21-year-old university student Rupi wrote, illustrated, and self-published her first poetry collection, milk and honey. Next came its artistic sibling, the sun and her flowers. These collections have sold 10 million copies and have been translated into over 42 languages. Her most recent book, home body, debuted at #1 on bestsellers lists across the world. In 2021, Rupi executive produced and starred in her debut film, Rupi Kaur Live, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Rupi’s work touches on love, loss, trauma, healing, femininity, and migration. She feels most at home when creating art or performing her poetry on stage.

If you missed the live keynote session earlier (or if you want to enjoy it again), join us for this evening broadcast of the morning conversation. Although this is not a live event, the chat will be open so you can connect with colleagues and attendees.

Snow Days registration not required to attend. This is an affinity group for BIPOC — Black, Indigenous, or People of Color — booksellers and bookstore owners to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. While allies are greatly appreciated, those who do not identify personally as a member of the BIPOC community should not plan to attend. This conversation will be hosted by an attendee and ABA staff will not be in attendance. Booksellers interested in participating can register here.

Find the link to access the Virtual Galley Room, sponsored by PartnerShip®, filled with ARCs of upcoming titles from Snow Days sponsors. Learn more about our publisher sponsors and business partners. Enjoy the Poetry Theater and relax your eyes with a 5-minute on demand video co-sponsored by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and the Children's Book Council.

Toni Morrison famously said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” Join authors Jennifer Egan, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Celeste Ng in conversation with author/bookseller Emma Straub for a discussion on how recent shifts in culture, isolation, and technology have affected what they want to read and what they want to write.

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Amber McBride teaches English literature at Northern Virginia Community College and has a BA in English from James Madison University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, Provincetown Arts, decomp, and more, and Me (Moth) is her debut novel. McBride lives in Charlottesville, VA.

Heads or Tails is back!

Remember playing the lively game of chance called Heads or Tails — way back when we all met in person — to raise money for the Binc Foundation? Well, the Heads or Tails game is back — but this time it’s virtual!

Join in the fun and play Zoom Heads or Tails to win $250!

Here’s how: Donate $20 to Binc for one chance to win or $35 for two chances to win!

Then Binc will send you the Zoom link to join the fun. Super easy!

You have to play to win — so donate now!

Fundraising event sponsored by ABA.

Watch for an invitation to sign up for one-to-one appointments with Publishers and ABA Business Partners featured in the Expo.

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a New York Times bestselling poet, essayist, and cultural critic whose poetry has been published in PEN America, Muzzle, Vinyl, and other journals. In 2021, he was named a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow, and his most recent book, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Abdurraqib is also a Tin House Editor-at-Large.

Join bestselling author and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Alicia Keys in conversation with Donya Craddock co-owner of The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth, Texas, as they discuss Keys’ new graphic novel, Girl on Fire; the complex ways race shapes the realities that young people, especially young women of color, face today; and the importance of the written and illustrated word.

With Girl on Fire, Keys shines a light on the challenges of growing up in a world that seems intent on making young Black women feel powerless, and gives voice to a generation ready to stand up for what they know is right.

Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times bestselling author, a film/television and Broadway producer, an entrepreneur, and a powerful force in the world of activism. Since the release of her 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, Keys has sold over 65 million records, scored six Top 10 singles, and built an unparalleled repertoire of hits and accomplishments. Her eighth album, Keys, was released on December 10, 2021. Girl on Fire was co-written with Andrew Weiner, founder and CEO of Inner Station, a multimedia entertainment company focused on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and motion pictures, and illustrated by Brittney Williams, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant recipient and a Luminarts Fellow.

“...poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, ‘Ahhh.’ That was the first poem.” —Lucille Clifton
 

IndieCommerce and IndieLite are ABA’s fully transactional, content-rich e-commerce platforms designed specifically for independent bookstore websites. Both users and non-users of IndieCommerce and IndieLite are invited to schedule one-on-one time with a program specialist from the IndieCommerce team. Register for an appointment here.

All Snow Days attendees are invited to gather in Kumospace for a second reception, this time featuring our Thursday authors. Join your colleagues in this virtual space to mix and mingle, and keep an eye out for your favorite authors. Grab a beverage and a snack and join us!

Enjoy a brief poetry reading in the break between sessions.
Yanyi is a writer and critic. He is the author of The Year of Blue Water, winner of the 2018 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize. His work has been featured in NPR's All Things Considered, Tin House, Granta, A Public Space, and at The New York Public Library, and he has received fellowships from Asian American Writers' Workshop and Poets House. Currently, he is poetry editor at Foundry and giving creative advice at The Reading.

If you are interested in prioritizing community engagement for societal change, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. A panel of booksellers who represent stores with strong missions will take you behind the scenes of the media coverage and social media posts that reflect the success of their work. They will discuss the very real and substantive processes they have in place to create change. If you want to hear about the actionable steps mission-driven stores take for success, this is the conversation for you!

If you missed the live keynote session earlier (or if you want to enjoy it again), join us for this evening broadcast of the morning conversation. Although this is not a live event, the chat will be open so you can connect with colleagues and attendees.

Snow Days registration not required to attend. This is an affinity group for bookseller and bookstore owners who identify with the Disability community to gather for connection, support, community, resources, and networking. This conversation will be hosted by an attendee and ABA staff will not be in attendance. While allies are greatly appreciated, those who do not identify personally as a member of the Disability community should not plan to attend. Booksellers interested in participating can register here.