FYI,

I'm passing this great opportunity along from Logan Kleinwaks, President, Book Wish Foundation (contact information below). Sounds like a fabulous event.

Sharon Rawlins, Youth Services Consultant, NJ State Library

New Jersey children's and young adult librarians are invited to a free (invitation-only, limited space, first-come, first-served) book event being held on Monday, October 17, 3:00-5:00 PM, in the Dag Hammarskj\xF6ld Library at UN Headquarters in Manhattan, featuring:

R.L. Stine, mega-bestselling author of Goosebumps & Fear Street
Ann M. Martin, mega-bestselling author of The Baby-sitters Club & Newbery Honoree for A Corner of the Universe
Karen Hesse, Newbery Medalist & MacArthur Fellow, author of Out of the Dust
Marilyn Nelson, former Poet Laureate of Connecticut, three-time National Book Award Finalist, & Newbery Honoree, Carver: A Life in Poems
Jeanne DuPrau, author of The City of Ember, ALA Notable Children's Book
Sofia Quintero, author of Efrain's Secret, NYC social activist
Nate Powell, graphic novelist, author of Swallow Me Whole, Eisner Award, Ignatz Award

and via Skype:

Meg Cabot, NYT #1 bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and many other series, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, NYPL Books for the Teen Age
Nikki Giovanni, Oprah Winfrey Living Legend, Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage, 5 NAACP Image Awards
Cornelia Funke, author of Inkheart, The Thief Lord, Time 100 Most Influential People, two-time Book Sense Book of the Year

These are ten of the eighteen contributors to What You Wish For (ISBN 9780399254543), a collection of short stories and poems for ages 12+ that my charity, Book Wish Foundation, organized to raise funds to establish libraries in Darfuri refugee camps.  Half of the event will feature a panel discussion/audience Q&A with these authors, and the other half will feature speakers from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other experts talking about the Darfuri refugees the book will help.  We are giving 100% of our proceeds from the book to UNHCR for the refugee camp libraries.

If any New Jersey librarians would like to attend this event, they should provide their names and email addresses, so that we can send individual invitations.  RSVPs to those invitations must be received by October 4, due to UN security and space limitations.  School librarians who would like to bring one student to the event should also indicate that in the invitation request.  We will make at least 5 seats available to New Jersey librarians, and possibly more, but space is limited and this will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Separate from this UN event, there will also be a book signing open to the everyone on October 17, 7:00-9:00 PM, at Books of Wonder in Manhattan (18 W. 18th Street), featuring the first seven authors listed above.

What You Wish For, being released by Penguin/G.P. Putnam's Sons on September 15, also features contributions from the following authors, who are, unfortunately, not able to attend these events: John Green, Alexander McCall Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Gary Soto, Francisco X. Stork, Cynthia Voigt, and Jane Yolen.  The stories and poems in the book share a common theme of wishes, and all were provided free of charge by the authors to maximize our proceeds for the refugees.

I hope NJ librarians will be interested in the opportunity to hear these authors in the UN Library talking about a book to help build libraries for refugees.

Best wishes,

Logan Kleinwaks
President, Book Wish Foundation
...@bookwish.org" target="_blank">log...@bookwish.org
11606 Brandon Hill Way
Reston, VA 20194-1215
571-281-3117