Amy Alessio is an award winning librarian with a black belt in karate. She has co-authored several programming books for ALA Editions, including 50+ Fandom Programs: Planning Festivals and Events for Tweens, Teens, and Adults (ALA Editons, 2017). She has conducted several webinars for the American Library Association on programming. She reviews mysteries and romances for Booklist and has authored and edited several other works of fiction and nonfiction. She is a former board member for YALSA. She foists her passion for vintage food trends and retro crafts at local and national workshops and on her blog. She has over 1000 vintage cookbooks and still owns her 80’s Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Learn more at http://www.amyalessio.com.
Katie LaMantia is a collection development librarian at Baker and Taylor. She previously worked as a teen librarian at the Schaumburg Township District Library in Schaumburg, Illinois and is a former Teen Advisory Board member turned librarian. She is the co-author of the books Pop Culture-Inspired Programs for Tweens, Teens, and Adults (ALA Editions, 2018), 50+ Fandom Programs: Planning Festivals and Events for Tweens, Teens, and Adults (ALA Editions, 2017) and A Year of Programs for Millennials and More (ALA Editions, 2015). She has a personal and professional appreciation and interest in pop culture and has presented at multiple state and national library conferences about libraries, teens, and 20s and 30s programming. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and extreme adventure activities.
Emily Vinci is the fiction manager at the Schaumburg Township District Library in Schaumburg, Illinois. Her professional interests are promoting the acquisition and appreciation of comics and graphic novels in libraries as well as creating programming that targets patrons in their 20s and 30s. She presents frequently about pop culture and niche library programming and coauthored the books A Year of Programs for Millennials and More (ALA Editions, 2015), 50+ Fandom Programs (ALA Editions, 2017), and Pop Culture-Inspired Programs for Tweens, Teens, and Adults (ALA Editions, 2018). A lifelong lover of all things pop culture and an avid collector, currently has more than two hundred copies of the Jurassic Park films on VHS and is always looking for more.
