2025 Georgia Conference on Children’s Literature, March 21, 2025 ~ Presenter-Participant

56th Annual Georgia Conference on Children’s Literature

Dates: March 21, 2025

Schedule: Registration starts at 7:30 a.m., sessions begin at 8:30 a.m.

Location: UGA Hotel and Conference Center, 1197 S. Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA

Description: The Georgia Conference on Children’s Literature draws hundreds of teachers, school media specialists, public librarians, authors, illustrators, and children’s literature scholars from the Southeast and beyond. Join us for the 56th Georgia Conference, where we will surely have an exciting line-up of keynote speakers, workshop sessions, and a diverse offering of break-out sessions. Additionally, the winners of the 2025 Georgia Children’s Book Award will be announced!

Keynote Speakers:

Davide Calì
Davide Calì began his career in 1994 as a cartoon writer for the Italian magazine Linus. He started writing children’s books in 2000, and since then he has published more than 100 books for children; the first four of which he illustrated himself. His book Piano Piano received a 2006 Bologna Ragazzi Special Award and the Switzerland Enfantaisies Prize. His book I Can’t Wait won the 2005 Baobob Prize. Calì has received the Belgium Libbylit Award, and France’s SNCF award. His books have been originally published in the US, Canada, England, France, Italy, and Portugal, and translations of his books have been published in over 30 countries. He is the author of the bestselling book and series I Didn’t Do My Homework Because… (Chronicle, 2014), illustrated by Benjamin Chaud, which has garnered nearly 50 editions across the series. Davide is also an avid guitarist and founding member of the band, The Bacon Brothers.

J. Kasper Kramer
J. Kasper Kramer is the winner of the 2024 GCBA Book Awards, the author of the acclaimed novel The Story That Cannot Be Told as well as The List of Unspeakable Fears and Eyes on the Sky. She’s an author and English professor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She has a master’s degree in creative writing and once upon a time lived in Japan, where she taught at an international school. When she’s not curled up with a book, Kramer loves researching lost fairy tales, playing video games, and fostering kittens.

Lesléa Newman
Lesléa (pronounced “Lez-LEE-uh”) Newman is the author of 85 books for readers of all ages, including A Letter to Harvey Milk; October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; I Carry My Mother; The Boy Who Cried Fabulous; Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed; and Heather Has Two Mommies. She has received many literary awards, including creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, two National Jewish Book Awards, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, the Massachusetts Book Award, etc., Lesléa’s work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian, Kazakh, and Chinese. In addition to being an author, Ms. Newman is a popular guest lecturer, and has spoken on college campuses across the country.

Costs:

Participant: (includes conference sessions, handouts, lunch and refreshment breaks)
On or before February 10th: $284
February 11th or later: $304

Student Participant: $124 (includes conference sessions, handouts, lunch and refreshment breaks)

Student Participant without Lunch: $104 (includes conference sessions, handouts and refreshment breaks)

Presenter-Participant on or before January 30: If you are presenting at the conference, AND you register on or before January 30, 2025, you receive an additional discount off the registration fee! The Presenter-Participant rate is $254 and includes conference sessions, handouts, lunch and refreshment breaks.

Student Presenter-Participant on or before January 30: $108 (includes conference sessions, handouts, lunch and refreshment breaks)

Student Presenter-Participant without Lunch on or before January 30: $91 (includes conference sessions, handouts and refreshment breaks)

Author Workshops: $14 each
Sign up for a workshop with one of our keynote speakers! You can attend one or all 3. Registration is limited to the first 25 registrants.

In each workshop, the keynote speaker will interact with a small group of registered participants, providing insights to their creative process and engaging participants in hands-on activities.

Hotel Reservations: A block of hotel rooms is being held at the UGA Hotel and Conference Center. The hotel rate is $119 per night for a room with one queen or two double beds. The deadline to make a hotel reservation with the group block is February 20, 2025. To make a reservation, call the Georgia Center directly at 800-884-1381 or 706-542-2134 or register online at reservations.hotel.uga.edu. Please use group reservation number 6242 when making the reservation.

Registration & Cancellation Deadline: March 14, 2025

Cancellation and Refund Policy: All cancellations must be submitted via email to mbaer@uga.edu before the cancellation deadline in order to receive a full refund. Cancellations after the cancellation deadline are non-refundable. If cancellation is not made by the deadline, and you are not able to attend, you or your organization is still liable for payment.

Registration Transfer: If you have registered for an event but cannot attend, you may transfer your registration to another person. Simply email 48 hours before the event to mbaer@uga.edu with the registration information of the person who will attend.

Payment Information

Paying by check: If you choose to pay by check by submitting a purchase order, the amount due will adjust to $0.00 because you haven't actually paid anything yet. We will send an official invoice by email showing the amount due and the address to mail payment so that you can submit for payment. Checks should be made payable to “UGA”.

Paying by UGA General Ledger Journal Entry: If you are a UGA faculty or staff member and are paying by departmental journal entry, the amount due will adjust to $0.00 because you haven't actually paid anything yet. Please enter the name, phone number and email address of the person responsible for the funds (chartstring) you are using to pay for the registration fee so we can work with them to make the journal entry. Registration will not be confirmed until we have this information.

Invoice procedure for everyone paying by check/PO or UGA Journal Entry: Invoices will be sent a few days after the registration is confirmed. When you successfully complete the registration process, you will receive two emails from Melanie Baer (mbaer@uga.edu). One to let you know the registration has been received and a second when it is confirmed. A few days later, you will receive an email from Julie Davis (julidavi@uga.edu) including a copy of the official invoice and the payment address. Please don’t remit payment until you receive the email from Julie Davis as sometimes checks are sent to the wrong UGA office by mistake. This process often takes up to 5 business days to complete.

Paying by credit card: Credit cards sometimes aren’t processed until a few days after you submit the registration in Marketplace. Please make sure the card number is correct, the billing zip code matches the billing address for the card and the card isn’t expired, or expiring in the next few days. If the credit card doesn’t go through for some reason, you will have to re-submit the registration.