Author Spotlight

Join us for a lively afternoon with authors Natalie Lloyd and Bill Konigsberg, including audience Q&A.

Bestselling author Natalie Lloyd returns with Hummingbird, her most personal book to date, a story about a girl who—armed with her trusty, snazzy wheelchair—refuses to let her brittle bone disease stand in the way of adventure.

Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as “fragile” just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she’s thrilled when she finally convinces her parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary. Olive can’t wait to go to a traditional school and make the friends she’s always longed for, until a disastrous first day dashes her hopes of ever fitting in.

Then Olive hears whispers about a magical, wish-granting hummingbird that supposedly lives near Macklemore. It’ll be the solution to all her problems! If she can find the bird and prove herself worthy, the creature will make her most desperate, secret wish come true.

When it becomes clear that she can’t solve the mystery on her own, Olive teams up with some unlikely allies who help her learn the truth about the bird. And on the way, she just might learn that our fragile places lead us to the most wonderful magic of all…

Natalie Lloyd lives in Chattanooga, TN, where she collects old books, listens to bluegrass music, and loves exploring quirky mountain towns with her dog, Biscuit. She is the author of A Snicker of Magic and The Key to Extraordinary.

From Stonewall Award winner Bill Konigsberg, comes a remarkable, funny, sexy, heartbreaking story of two teen boys finding each other in New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

“The first thing I noticed about C.J. Gorman was his plexiglass bra.”

So begins Destination Unknown—it's 1987 in New York City, and Micah is at a dance club, trying to pretend he's more out and outgoing than he really is. C.J. isn't just out—he’s complete out there, and Micah can't help but be both attracted to and afraid of someone who travels so loudly and proudly through the night.

A connection occurs. Is it friendship? Romance? Is C.J. the one with all the answers... or does Micah bring more to the relationship that it first seems? As their lives become more and more entangled in the AIDS epidemic that’s laying waste to their community, and the AIDS activism that will ultimately bring a strong voice to their demands, whatever Micah and C.J. have between them will be tested, strained, pushed, and pulled -- but it will also be a lifeline in a time of death, a bond that will determine the course of their futures.

In Destination Unknown, Bill returns to a time he knew well as a teenager to tell a story of identity, connection, community, and survival.

Bill Konigsberg is the author of six books for young adults, which have won awards including the Stonewall Book Award, the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor, and the Lambda Literary Award. Bill lives with his husband, Chuck, and their two Labradoodles, Mabel and Buford.

Originally presented as part of the PLA 2022 Virtual Conference on March 25, 2022.