Understanding Computer Security Principles With Legos and Chocolate

Computer security is one of the most misunderstood technologies.  Bring the kids and learn the principles that are used to design secure systems by examining structures built with Legos that were designed to protect chocolate pieces.  By seeing physical designs with different flaws, participants will be able to understand how design problems lead to weaknesses […]

Crayons! Oil Pastels! Create with Illustrator Marika Maijala

Finnish children’s book illustrator Marika Maijala will share Rosie Runs, her “triumphant escape story” of a racing dog who dreams of forests, meadows, hares, and freedom. She will guide an interactive drawing workshop in which kids can use crayons and oil pastels to create their own beautiful works of art.

Fantastical Wonders & Magical Stories

Join authors Isi Hendrix (Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans), P. Djèlí Clark (Abeni’s Song), and Corey Ann Haydu (The Widely Unknown Myth of Apple & Dorothy) as they discuss their world building and epic quests that each of their characters take in their middle grade stories, in conversation with Brigid Martin (Totally Psychic!)

Laughing Through Life: Humor, Heart, and Honest Reflections

Get ready for a side-splitting and thought-provoking panel featuring authors and essayists Samantha Irby and Aparna Nancherla. In Quietly Hostile, Samantha Irby leads us through personal essays tackling life’s absurdities with a witty and candid perspective. Aparna Nancherla’s Unreliable Narrator weaves comedy and introspection into a unique experience of imposter syndrome. Led by Brian Vines, […]

Where Lurks the Darkness?

 Duplicitous spouses or stranger danger, climbing the career ladder or gun stocking survivalism – where does peril actually lurk and hide? Join NYT bestselling crime novelist Alafair Burke (Where Are The Children Now? sequel to Mary Clark Higgins blockbuster suspense novel Where are the Children) and debut novelist Kashana Cauley (The Survivalists) as they discuss […]

Inventing Home: Poets on the Diaspora

Poets Marilyn Chin (Sage), Sahar Muradi (OCTOBERS), and Oliver de la Paz (The Diaspora Sonnets) read from their work and discuss how poems address ideas of displacement, exile, and what it means to carry “home” with you. Moderated by Hafizah Augustus Geter, Janklow & Nesbit.

Eat (with) the Rich

These three novels invite readers into the world of one-percenters, though not without some criticism. In Jenny Jackson’s debut, Pineapple Street, three sisters of a wealthy Brooklyn clan struggle to define their individual lives against their family background. In The Lemon, Joe Keohane (writing as S.E. Boyd) explores how the death of a renowned culinary […]

A Moment in Time

Discover how a single moment in history can ripple through time. Ben Fountain’s Devil Makes Three reveals the consequences of violent political upheaval in Haiti. Janika Oza’s A History of Burning investigates how one brutal act can haunt a family for generations. John Manuel Arias’s Where There Was Fire follows a mother and daughter as […]

New York, New York!

Whether it’s somewhere you dream of moving to one day, a place you met your very best friends, or a world in which you struggle to fit in, it’s hard to deny: there’s no city like New York City. Join acclaimed authors Don P. Hooper (True True), Patricia Park (Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of […]

Drag, Ballroom, and Cultural Consciousness

Drag and ballroom have long been fierce art forms, vehicles of self-expression, rebellion, celebration, and love. On this panel, authors Charles Busch (Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy), Elyssa Goodman (Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City), and Ricky Tucker (And the Category Is: Inside New York’s […]

This Modern Life

Join these authors in conversation as they confront the pivotal challenges of contemporary life. Brandon Taylor’s The Late Americans follows a group of friends and lovers in Iowa City as they navigate ambition, relationships, and class. Martin Riker’s The Guest Lecture delves into the mind of a young feminist economist through a crisis of the […]

Playing God: Building and Destroying Fictional Worlds and Characters (Virtual)

Queer Indie and the Writing Community Chat Show will host an interactive, live-streamed panel diving into the construction and destruction of fictional worlds and characters. Topics will include harvesting inspiration, various approaches to process, and how to incorporate realistic and relevant conflicts and motivations. Panelists include Dr. Mario Dell’Olio, TT Banks, Ash Knight, A.C. Merkel, […]