Meet the voices shaping the future of literacy education at NCTE 2026.
Photo: Ruven Afanador
Award-Winning Author
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize.
New York Times bestselling author and former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer
The first African American woman ever to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history, Copeland is the author of several books for young readers and adults.
Photo: Paul Smith
Actor, Director, Producer, Educator & Literacy Advocate
Join us Saturday morning for a fireside chat with LeVar Burton, the actor, author, and former Reading Rainbow host.
© Caroline Fiss
Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Writer, Speaker & Model
Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Tomi Adeyemi is the author of Children of Blood and Bone, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, and Children of Anguish and Anarchy.
This interactive roundtable offers opportunities for participants to meet Random House children's authors and learn with National Writing Project teacher-leaders about the ways they adopt & adapt as individuals who pivot and pace themselves in a world of texts. Authors will present their latest work, while teachers will share the writing practices for students inspired by their creations.
Grounded in Reggio Emilia principles and Paulo Freire’s liberating pedagogy, this session reimagines conferring as a dialogic practice with writers, artists, and storytellers. Rather than a banking model of instruction, conferences become spaces of mutual inquiry where educators and children co-investigate ideas, meanings, and possibilities through the hundred languages of expression.
In this session dedicated to innovative gaming, we will explore how games can expand our classroom with dynamic, inclusive, and transformative opportunities for learning. We will feature time to play new games as well as ideas for how to integrate them into your classroom in critical and social justice-oriented ways.
SPECIAL GUEST: #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek Ernest Cline will join the session for a closing interview with Karis Jones of Baylor University. Free copies of Cline’s book Ready Player One: The Graphic Novel, published in October, will be available while supplies last. He will be signing books after the session.
Wondering about how to up your poetry teaching chops? Panelists will demonstrate how to help students develop confidence reading, reflecting, responding to, writing, and sharing their own poems. This interactive session will demonstrate methods for guiding and inspiring students as they make meaningful connections with a genre that so many fear.
This panel uses authentic classroom scenarios to examine challenges and possibilities of integrating AI into literacy instruction. Each panelist will present a scenario to highlight a real instructional dilemma English teachers face when encountering AI tools. Through a guided discussion, the panel will explore pedagogical, ethical, and practical responses.
Photo: Bella Wang Photography
Author & New York Times Technology Reporter
New York Times reporter Natasha Singer has covered technology in schools for more than a decade and is the author of the forthcoming book Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools.
College Section Luncheon is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Nigel Livingstone
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin, its sequel Dear Justyce, and the middle-grades novels Clean Getaway and Fast Pitch.
Middle Level Luncheon is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Matteo Monchiero
2026–2027 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia
A Black, Afro-Boricua poet from Philadelphia and the city’s 2026–2027 Poet Laureate, Raina J. León is the author of black god mother this body and a founding editor of The Acentos Review.
ELATE Luncheon is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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New York Times Bestselling Author
New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X, winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award.
ALAN Breakfast and Literary Session is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Dave Clendenan
Orbis Pictus Award Winner
Author of Just In Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Cities: How Humans Live Together, writing at the connections between history, society, and the environment.
Photo: Joe Cicchese
Orbis Pictus Award Winner, Illustrator
Illustrator of The Kitten Story: A Mostly True Tale and No More Señora Mimí, drawn to capturing emotion above all else.
Charlotte Huck Award Winner
Chicana poet and author from San Diego whose novel-in-verse A Sea of Lemon Trees won the Charlotte Huck Children’s Book Award and was named a Newbery Honor Book.
Children’s Book Awards Luncheon is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Carletta Girma
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author and Staff Writer at The Atlantic
Author of the #1 New York Times bestseller How the Word Is Passed and a staff writer at The Atlantic. An advance reader copy of his upcoming book, Just Beneath the Soil, will be a gift to luncheon attendees while supplies last. Copies of NCTE’s Field Guide for Teaching Secondary English will also be available.
Secondary Section Luncheon is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Blue Lo
Award-Winning Author and Illustrator
Award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Chinese Menu, and A Big Mooncake for Little Star.
Children’s Literature Assembly Breakfast is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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NCTE Vice President and President of Chabot College
President of Chabot College in Hayward, California, where he champions access, justice, and excellence in education, and Vice President of NCTE.
NCTE Executive Director
A transformational leader who has dedicated her career to public service and civic engagement, specifically the creation of human-centric efforts to advance literacy.
Affiliate Breakfast is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Writing Still Matters
How do we cultivate confident writers when AI tools draft and summarize instantly? Come brunch with the National Writing Project and celebrate writing as a deeply human act of thinking, meaning-making and civic participation.
National Writing Project Brunch is a ticketed event. Add it when you register for the Convention.
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Photo: Cameron Smith
Former First Lady, Educator, and New York Times Bestselling Author
Biden’s second memoir, View from the East Wing, was published in June.
Join your colleagues at the College Section Get-Together. Register for the Convention to attend.
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Photo: Mark Davis
Newbery Medal-Winning Author and Youth Writing Advocate
The author of many books for readers of all ages; cofounder of 826 Valencia, a writing center for young people; and founder of McSweeney’s publishing company.
Join your colleagues at the Secondary Section Get-Together. Register for the Convention to attend.
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Newbery Honor-Winning Author and Illustrator
Coauthor, with Omar Mohamed, of the National Book Award finalist When Stars Are Scattered, and the Newbery Honor–winning creator of Roller Girl.
Coauthor of When Stars Are Scattered
Coauthor of the National Book Award finalist When Stars Are Scattered. He spent his childhood at the Dadaab camp and now works at a center to help resettle other refugees.
Join your colleagues at the Middle Level Meet-Up. Register for the Convention to attend.
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Sibert Honor-Winning Writer and Book Editor
A Sibert Honor–winning writer and book editor whose work focuses on Black culture and social justice.
Photo: Noam Galai
Caldecott Medal-Winning Author and Illustrator
Winner of the Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Honor Award, and a National Book Award Finalist for Big, which she authored and illustrated.
Join your colleagues at the Elementary Section Get-Together. Register for the Convention to attend.
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