Chair of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway working party and Youth Libraries Group blog editor Jake Hope shares his first experiences attending National Conference...

My first job in libraries involved working on the Lancashire Book of the Year award.  It was an amazing experience and a chance to really excite and engage young people in books and reading, showcasing that both can be vibrant, creative and social!  It did feel isolating, however, as much as I'd hoped to share experiences and enthusiasm with colleagues, with the exception of my line-manager, there were rarely opportunities for that. 

Joining YLG was the most incredible tonic, at last, I felt like I'd found 'my people'and 'my spiritual home'!  The group was so friendly and welcoming and my first conference was brilliant - I well remember having breakfast with Wendy Cooling and talking with her about BookStart, being invited to join the Random House crew on their table for evening meals and hearing about their forthcoming titles,hearing then Children's Laureate - Jacqueline Wilson - talking about the plans she had for her tenure and talking with Janetta Otter-Barry (then of Frances Lincoln) and Nicky Potter around representation in children's books.  

I came away buzzing with ideas and with bags chock-full of books, posters, resources and more and having made new friends - and indeed future colleagues!  These are not easy times for librarians working with children and young people and this year has been particularly challenging.  Connections and community become ever more important against this context and that is one of the deeply special things about conference, it's a chance to network and to connect not only with other professionals, but also with ideas and creative ways of working.

Our conference this year is called In the Frame: Putting Readers in the Picture and it is scheduled to take place at the impressive Imperial Hotel in Torquay from November 20 to 22.  There will be an astonishing range of authors, illustrators and experts attending.  Over the coming weeks we will be teasing more content.  For further information about the conference, including its programme, visit here

We hope we can welcome you to what promises to be an incredibly special and memorable weekend.

Special thanks to sponsors Nosy Crow and the National Trust and to illustrator Britta Teckentrup for the conference cover.