Illinois LIbraries Present

Witty, creepy, and compulsively readable, bestselling author R.L. Stine defined horror for a generation of young readers. The generation that grew up with the Goosebumps franchise may be grown, but Stine keeps finding ways to keep us afraid of the dark! Join us with The Guinness Book of World Records’ “most prolific author of children’s horror novels,” R.L. Stine, to discuss his illustrious and still-expanding body of work.

Best known for the GoosebumpsExternal Link and Fear StreetExternal Link series (and their respective TV and movie adaptations), R.L. Stine has sold over 400 million books worldwide in 35 languages. His recent and upcoming works include The Last SleepoverExternal Link, which is the fifth installment in the Goosebumps: House of ShiversExternal Link series; The Graveyard Club, a YA graphic novel illustrated by Carola Borelli; multiple Fear Street movies, including Fear Street: Prom Queen; and Goosebumps: The Vanishing, the second season of the Goosebumps reboot TV series. 

Becky Spratford, acclaimed horror maven and editor of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, will join R.L. Stine in conversation.

Industrious, irreverent, humble–though he may deny the accusation–Percival Everett, like his fiction, defies categorization. His most recent novel, JamesExternal Link, earned both the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award, and his 2001 novel ErasureExternal Link inspired the film American FictionExternal Link, which received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2024. 

Everett’s other titles include Dr. No, The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much BlueExternal Link, and I Am Not Sidney PoitierExternal Link. Despite these accomplishments, he remains devoted to reviewing his own work critically, and indeed his writing process involves intensive research and revision. Tune in for our conversation with Percival Everett to get a glimpse beyond the page. 

Brandis Friedman will moderate the event. Friedman is a writer and anchor for WTTW’s Chicago Tonight and Chicago Tonight: Black Voices, and also serves as a champion for libraries.

Join critically acclaimed, bestselling author, Cristina Henríquez, for a compelling conversation about her work. Henríquez’s newest book, The Great DivideExternal Link, is a moving exploration of the people who lived, loved, and labored during the construction of the Panama Canal. Named a New York Times’ Editors’ Choice selection and TIME Magazine “100 Must-Read Books of 2024,” The Great Divide explores history and adversity in a place very special to her – her father’s homeland of Panama.

Henríquez has also authored The Book of Unknown AmericansExternal Link, The World in HalfExternal Link, and Come Together, Fall ApartExternal Link, all to significant acclaim. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Best American Short Stories 2018, and she is a recipient of the 21st Century Award given by The Chicago Public Library Foundation. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and lives in the Chicago suburbs with her family.

Carmen Álvarez will join Henríquez as moderator. Álvarez is an advocate for libraries and Latinx representation in the publishing industry. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Elle, and Vogue and she has a social media presence surpassing 180k followers across platforms.