Be sure to join us on May 20^th & 21st, 2010 at the Radisson Hotel Nashua.  Here are a few highlights:

 We’ll kick off our conference on Thursday with Pam Berger, educational technology/library consultant and the publisher/editor of Information Searcher.  Read more about her work at http://www.infosearcher.com/. During her keynote and breakout session, Pam will expand upon the literacy work she did in NH last summer and help us to chart new territory based on her experiences as a school library consultant. At lunch on Thursday as well as during a follow-up breakout session in the afternoon, we will hear from Chris Demarest (http://chrisdemarest.blogspot.com), author and illustrator of over one hundred titles, including MAYDAY! MAYDAY! A Coast Guard Rescue, HURRICANE HUNTERS: Riders on the Storm, and Firefighters A to Z which was chosen as a New York Times "Best Book" in 2000.  Chris will talk about his process of researching nonfiction titles, especially those focused toward documenting people in unusual professions.

 Our Friday morning keynote speaker will be Roland Smith, http://www.rolandsmith.com, author of 25 books – novels, nonfiction books and picture books, including his new IQ series.  A former research biologist, Roland will take attendees to Kenya, Brazil, Burma, and other exotic locales from his award winning Young Adult adventure novels. He has agreed to stay with us for a breakout session in the afternoon at which time he will talk about his time in the Burmese jungle researching his novel Elephant Run which took him 10 years to write.  At lunch on Friday Kathy Mallat, author and illustrator of several books including Brave Bear and Just Ducky, will take attendees through the twists and turns of becoming published.  During an afternoon breakout session, Kathy will take attendees up close and personal, sharing the sketches, manuscripts and inspirations for her books.  

We have more sessions in the planning and pending stages such as an Emerging Authors panel, perennial favorites such as He Said, She Said with Nancy Keane and Michael Sullivan, and our state award committee presentations.    

Although costs continue to escalate in these trying economic times, the NHSLMA conference committee has determined to hold the line on our conference rates.  This means that again this year, the two day member rate is just $155.00 ($180 for non-members) or $85.00 for one day ($100.00 for non-members).  Remember that these rates include lunch and a morning coffee break.  Rooms at the Radisson Nashua will be $99.00 (plus tax) per night.

 Please plan to join us!

 Pam Tinker, 2010 Conference Chair