Children's Institute opens during the afternoon on Wednesday, June 11, with registration starting at 2 p.m. The Buddy Meet and Greet, for booksellers participating in the Buddy Program, will be held 4-4:45 p.m. Then, from 5:15-6:45 p.m., is the PATHWAYS Mixer, for Black, Indigenous, AAPI, Latina/o/x, Chicana/o/x, Hispanic, and all BIPOC attendees as well as non-attendees.
Thursday morning and early afternoon feature several Paz workshops for prospective and new bookstore owners; a staff training workshop; a workshop for publishers to hear from Black and BIPOC booksellers about how to work better together; and tours of bookstores in the Portland area. Bookstores that will be visited include the iconic Powell's Books, as well as A Children's Place Bookstore, Always Here Bookstore, Broadway Books, Grand Gesture Books, Green Bean Books, Linda Letra Bilingual Books, Love Spell, The Romance Era Bookshop, and Vintage Books.
Following the opening keynote with Mychal Threets (see below), the opening reception and costume party takes place from 5:30-7 p.m.
The Friday luncheon centers on the Indie Introduce program, and includes a discussion of the selection process by the booksellers who chose the Summer/Fall 2025 Indies Introduce Kids list. Many of the debut authors whose books were selected will be on hand.
At 5 p.m., on Friday, the authors reception will highlight dozens of authors and illustrators. Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served.
Later in the evening, from 9:30-11:30 p.m., Scholastic hosts an after-party celebrating 20 years of its Graphix imprint, which specializes in graphic novels. Graphix authors and illustrators will be at the party, and drinks and dessert will be available.
Sessions:
As the ABA's Allison Hill noted, some sessions reflect challenges that include those posed by the current political climate. For example, a panel on Saturday features booksellers discussing how to deal with changes in bookstore events caused by "heightened safety concerns, executive orders and federal budget cuts, and deportations" that have made some authors reluctant to travel as well as by "new competition from Barnes & Noble." In addition, "the impact of book bans on schools, school budget and DEI cuts, and the increased costs of books have become deterrents for author visits--particularly for Title 1 schools."
|
|
| Philomena Polefrone | |
Another session will be led by Philomena Polefrone, American Booksellers for Free Expression associate director and author of The Right to Read Handbook, who will discuss booksellers' First Amendment rights and provide information on book challenges, bannings, and what to do if a bookstore receives community pushback.
Nuts-and-bolts sessions about bookselling basics focus on topics that include taking annual inventory and best practices for doing returns; how to use ABACUS information to measure stores' financial results and make financial plans; the basics of financial literacy; how authors who are early in their careers can work well with bookstores on events and publicity; and more.
On Saturday, three concurrent conversation rounds (or roundtables) will focus on the top five challenges facing rural bookstores; children's-only bookstores; and urban, suburban, pop-up, mobile, and online-only bookstores.
Several organizations important to indie bookstores will hold sessions about their products and services. For example, a Bookshop.org session features tips from indie booksellers who use Bookshop effectively; Ingram will similarly offer tips on using iPage; and Edelweiss will emphasize how booksellers can use Edelweiss to build community with colleagues and peers.
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) will hold another heads or tails fundraiser, which has proved quite popular at previous institutes and is both entertaining and helpful to booksellers and bookstores in need. Entry donations are available throughout the event; deciding coins will be flipped at 3:50 on Saturday.
Children's Institute closes out on Saturday at 5 p.m. with karaoke, an event hosted by Drag Story Hour that promises to end Ci2025 "on a high note."