BookFest 2024 at Lander-Grinspoon Academy

Lander-Grinspoon Academy is proud to announce its inaugural festival celebrating children’s books, authors, and their readers! We are delighted to host a stellar group of award-winning, renowned authors: Adam Gidwitz, Jeanne Birdsall, and Lesléa Newman. 

The event will take place on Sunday, November 10th at Lander-Grinspoon Academy in Northampton, MA, starting at 10am. This event is geared towards readers ages 4-14 and open to all. Please see below for the schedule. 

There is no charge for the event but advanced registration is required and will close once we reach maximum capacity. 

We are grateful to our community partners: HighFive Books and PJ Library.  

Bestselling author Adam Gidwitz was a teacher for eight years. He told countless stories to his students, who then demanded he write his first book, A Tale Dark & Grimm. Adam has since written two companion novels, In a Glass Grimmly and The Grimm Conclusion. He is also the author of The Inquisitor’s Tale, which won the Newbery Honor, and The Unicorn Rescue Society series. Adam still tells creepy, funny fairy tales live to kids on his podcast Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest—and at schools around the world. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and dog, Lucy Goosey.

Jeanne Birdsall is a New York Times best-selling author of books for children. Her middle grade novels about the Penderwick family have collected many honors, including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and have been translated into thirty languages. She also writes picture books for younger children. Jeanne’s home is with her husband in Northampton, Massachusetts. Their house is old and comfortable, and surrounded by gardens.

Lesléa Newman is the author of 85 books for readers of all ages, including Heather Has Two Mommies; A Joyful Song; A Letter to Harvey Milk; October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; I Carry My Mother; The Boy Who Cried Fabulous; Ketzel, and the Cat Who Composed. 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, two Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Awards as well as the Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, a Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fiction Writing grant, the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement, the Cat Writers’ Association Muse Medallion, and the Dog Writers’ Association of America’s Maxwell Medallion. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award Finalists.

Schedule of Day

10am PJ Pals Presents: Lesléa Newman (readers ages 4-7 especially encouraged to attend)

10:40am Craft workshop with Big Wheel Press (readers ages 4-10 especially encouraged to attend)

11:00am Adam Gidwitz on “The Inquisitor’s Tale” ft. Lander-Grinspoon Academy band with original songs, based on “The Inquisitor’s Tale” (geared towards readers ages 9 and up)

12:00-1pm Lunch break 

1pm Jeanne Birdsall on her new book in conversation with Adam Gidwitz (geared towards readers ages 9 and up)

2pm Adam's Gidwitz’s Grimm Storytelling (geared towards readers ages 9 and up)

Host or Publisher Lander Grinspoon Academy