Presenter of the National Book Awards

2008 NBA Teen Press Conference

November 18: “Stinky Cheese” Author Jon Scieszka
To Host Popular 2008 NBA Teen Press Conference

Featuring 2008 National Book Award Finalists:

Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Alfred A. Knopf)

On Tuesday, November 18, the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, “Stinky Cheese” author Jon Scieszka welcomed over 300 middle and high school students from New York City public and private schools to the auditorium of The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for the Foundation’s popular National Book Awards Teen Press Conference.

Students prepared for the event by reading one of the five Finalists' books and drafting questions based on the text, the writing life, and what it means to be a National Book Award Finalist. At the event, each participating student received a professionally designed press kit with biographical information on each author, excerpts from their books, and materials related to the National Book Awards.

Authors read from their work before the floor was turned over to the students for the Press Conference, when they interviewed the 2008 National Book Award Finalists in Young People's Literature. Students had the opportunity to meet the authors and had their books signed at a reception following the event.

Funding for this program is made possible through a generous grant from Con Edison.

2007 YPL Finalists: (L to R) Brian Selznick, Kathleen Duey, Winner Sherman Alexie, Finalists Sara Zarr and M. Sindy Felin. Photo: Jen Snow