Posts by Derek Ivie

2012 YALSA Awards

 by Derek Ivie
January 26, 2012

On the morning of January 25, 2012, the theater of the Dallas Convention Center was packed with literary professionals and enthusiasts who were awaiting the results of the YALSA Awards. The announcements started promptly at 7:45 a.m. If you showed up late, all the good seats were taken. You had to hoof it to the balcony. Of course, you could have watched the live web cast.

Who would be honored, noticed, and praised this year? Who would get those shiny gold and silver stickers on the cover of their books?

These stickers 

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Ellen Hopkins at TeenLIVE: Resolute Writing

 by Derek Ivie
October 19, 2011

Fans lined up an hour early, eagerly awaiting their favorite author's arrival at NYPL's Grand Central Library. Some had even traveled from Connecticut to attend this TeenLIVE event, featuring the award-winning author Ellen Hopkins. Hopkins herself arrived all smiles — a pro at library visits, she spends over 100 days a year speaking all over the country. NYPL was lucky enough to be one of the stops on her busy book tour celebrating the release of her new young adult novel, Perfect, and 

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Take me to Modelland: Teen Live with Tyra Banks

 by Derek Ivie
October 6, 2011

Leave it to the queen of modeling, Tyra Banks, to get over 300 teens to show off their favorite poses in the middle of the Bartos Forum in the Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library. The room was filled with teens arching their backs in their fiercest high fashion poses. Smizing was a must! The group then went on to catalog posing where they had the wind in their hair and fake surprised faces that expressed their model-happiness with a chorus of, “Ahh!” One fan even felt so inclined to jump up there with Tyra and profess her love for the model turned reality star 

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Spring Changes: Metamorphosis in Teen Literature

 by Derek Ivie
May 13, 2011

As the seasons change and the weather gets warmer, a metamorphosis begins in the city. The sun is shining in New York and New Yorkers are smiling at the warmer temperatures. The parks are greener with flowers blooming, trees sprouting new leaves and picnic baskets popping up on blankets. The sunglasses are coming out and the hemlines are getting shorter. Change is happening all around.

When Julia Alvarez came to NYPL to take part in our TeenLIVE! program, she brought along with her the 

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