The first Horn Book Evening of Dialogue was held Thursday, November 21, 2024, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (415 Summer Street, Room 102A First Floor, Boston, MA 02210) during the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention November 21–24, 2024. Complimentary cocktails and light appetizers began at 6:00 PM with a book signing immediately following until 8:30 PM where attendees had the opportunity to meet and greet the authors and grab their latest advanced reading copies/galleys.

Horn Book editor in chief, Elissa Gershowitz, kicked off this celebratory evening for our centennial with introductory remarks before the authors spoke about their forthcoming titles with Horn Book editor emeritus, Roger Sutton, in three panels. The Picture Book panel was first, which featured Winsome Bingham (Missing Momma; Fish Fry Friday), Carole Boston Weatherford (Outspoken; Bros; and Crowning Glory), Gabriella Aldeman (Squawk of Spanish), and Kari Lavelle (Butt or Face). The Middle Grade panel included Lesa Cline-Ransome (One Big Open Sky), Allie Millington (Olivetti), and Gennifer Choldenko (The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman). The evening concluded with YA panelists Elana K. Arnold (The Blood Years), NoNieqa Ramos (They Thought They Buried Us), and Randy Ribay (Everything We Never Had).

Thank you to the event's sponsors: Abrams, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge, HarperCollins Children's Books, Holiday House, Lerner, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Penguin Young Readers, Random House Children's Books, and Sourcebooks. We also want to thank Al Berman, our ad sales manager, and Jodi Weinheimer, events manager, for your work planning this event.  

We hope you enjoyed this free event for library professionals and NCTE attendees. For those who were unable to make it, here is a photo slideshow of some of our favorite moments from the event.

All photos by Cynthia K. Ritter.