Registration Now Open For the 40th Annual BookFest @ Bank Street

By SLJ Staff

September 13, 2011

If you're in the New York City tri-state area this October, join Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer, Leonard Marcus, and a host of other big names from the kid lit world for the Bank Street College of Education's 40th Annual BookFest @ Bank Street.

Registration is now open for the October 29, 2011 event, which is brought to you by Bank Street's Center for Children's Literature, and is devoted to the celebration, discovery, and discussion of books for children and teens. But hurry up, last year's BookFest sold out quickly, and registration ends when 150 people sign up.

Here's what your $65 registration fee includes: morning coffee and a box lunch—as well as six hours of interesting panel discussions and breakout sessions with some of your favorite authors, illustrators, editors, reviewers, and scholars.

One session will be dedicated to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth. Juster, the author, and Feiffer, its illustrator, along with critic and scholar Marcus, will discuss the impact that this classic fantasy has had on children's literature and young readers all over the world. The book is about a bored young boy named Milo who receives a magic tollbooth, drives through it in his toy car, and is transported to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth (Knopf) will go on sale October 25.