2026 Program Schedule

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September 24th

In-person Bus Boys and Poets, 11:30 am to 2 pm

Winsome Bingham 

BALANCING TWO WORLDS: What I Learned as An Author & Editor in Children’s Publishing

 

Bio:

Winsome Bingham is an award-winning author and editor of books for teeny-tiny babies, toddlers, tweens, and teens. Her debut, SOUL FOOD SUNDAY, was a New York Times Best Book of the Year and the winner of the Connecticut Book Award. She has published books with Simon and Schuster, Abrams, Neal Porter Books, Nosy Crow, and Reycraft Books. She has more books coming with Harper Collins Publishing. As an Acquiring Editor at Reycraft Books, she has had the pleasure of editing books by Newbery Honored author Carole Boston Weatherford, Eisner nominated author Debbi Michiko Florence, Pura Belpre winning author Marianna Llanos, and has edited three books by the late great JANE YOLEN. She is a teacher by trade, a disabled military veteran by circumstance, and a writer by choice.

 

 

To pre-order Winsome’s books: https://politics-prose.com/list/winsome-bingham-childrens-book-guild

 

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October 15th

virtual via Zoom 7-8:30 pm 

Abraham Matias

October Guild Event: Meet with Abraham Matias, builder of many haunting puppets and winner of the 2026 Pura Belpre´ Award for the illustration of Popo the Xolo. Abraham's illustration of Popo (the dog) and Grandmother move the story out of the here and now and into the mythical realm of the journey that begins after death. Abraham will tell us about his own illustration journey and help us prepare for our own artistic process with a short, fun project that can be done at home.  

 

November 19th      

in-person Bus Boys and Poets 11:30 am to 2 pm

Text Types for Early Readers with DCPS Reading Clinic

This session will provide an overview of the reading brain and orthographic mapping to inform an understanding of text types. The session will prepare book professionals to identify predictable, decodable, and leveled text.

 

 

December 17th

 

in-person social

Hillwood Estate 

4155 Linnean Avenue,
NW Washington, DC 20008

Come visit with friends, tour the estate of the late Marjorie Merriweather Post and eat lunch at the cafe. The estate is centrally located in DC with parking and metro access (not super close metro) https://hillwoodmuseum.org/visit/getting-us

 

January 21st

virtual 7 to 8:30

Book Awards 

We all know many of the big awards, but there are thousands of dedicated children's book readers who choose and honor books for different reasons. This panel will look at awards that are not the Caldecott or Newbery. Why start a book award? What do these awards achieve? How much work is it for the people reading books? How do they get the books?

 

February 18th  

in-person Bus Boys and Poets 11:30 am to 2 pm

Social Media Influencers/Podcasters

 

March 18th

in-person DC public library

TBD

Business meeting 

 

April 10th

in-person Writer's Center

TBD SIGNATURE EVENT 

 

May 20th

in-person

Greg Pizolli 

 

Greg Pizzoli is the four-time Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning creator of the Baloney and Friendsgraphic novel series, as well as the author and illustrator of the picture books The Watermelon Seed, Good Night Owl, and The Book Hog. He also writes nonfiction for kids, including the New York Times Best Illustrated title Tricky Vic, and PIZZA! A Slice of History.

 

 

June 17th

in-person

 

Library of Congress Tour featuring the new children's area. Former CBG president Monica Gaines will guide us through the LOC's new children’s area and join us for lunch in the cafeteria.