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Pasadena , CA 91104
Conference
SoCal Spring Forum 2026
A day of peer-to-peer bookseller education, author panels, and Rep Picks!
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Hilton Pasadena
168 South Los Robles AvenuePasadena , CA 91104
Agenda
| May 28 | |
| 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM | Registration Opens |
| 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM | AUDITORIUM - BIPOC Committee Meet & Greet |
| 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM | SAN GABRIEL - Keynote Breakfast featuring Chloe Benjamin's UNDER STORY Moderated by Dan Graham (Vroman's Bookstore and Book Soup) |
| 9:35 AM - 10:20 AM | SAN GABRIEL - Education Panel: Make and Break Rules for Buying Rules for buying & Strategic Inefficiencies. |
| 9:35 AM - 10:20 AM | PASADENA 1 - Author Panel: The Stories We Inherit & Rewrite Featuring Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams, author of An Expanse of Blue, Sara Hashem, author of Where No Shadow Stays, and Chelsea Ichaso, author of Beware the Abbott Boys. Moderated by Ana Buckley (Fables and Fancies). |
| 10:25 AM - 11:15 AM | PASADENA 1 - Author Panel: So You're Ready for a Quest... Fantasy Author Panel Featuring Alexandra Bracken, author of Immortal Rose, Taylor J. LaRue, author of Steelborn, and Linda H. Codega, author of Pasha the Storm. Moderated by Jenni Marchisotto (Mysterious Galaxy). |
| 10:25 AM - 11:15 AM | SAN GABRIEL - Storytime Roundtable: Creating a Better Climate for Kidlit This session lets booksellers share their best ideas for curation and displays, advice for children's events, and ways to cultivate kids' joy in reading. |
| 11:15 AM - 11:40 AM | Coffee Break/ABA Annual Town Hall Meeting |
| 11:40 AM - 12:25 PM | PASADENA 1 - Education Presentation: Event P&L How to do Event P&L and why it is important. |
| 11:40 AM - 12:25 PM | SAN GABRIEL - Education Panel to Networking: Bookseller to Sales Rep Networking Breakout Reps will introduce themselves, their jobs and their role in the industry. Then we break out into tables or sections for them to get to meet and greet with frontline booksellers. |
| 12:30 PM - 2:15 PM |
SAN GABRIEL - Rep Picks Lunch
Enjoy lunch & learn about the season's upcoming titles! Presenting Reps: - Kristin Rasmussen - Shannon Grant - Tom Benton - Nicole White - Kalani Kapahua - Vicki DeArmon - Dave Ehrlich - Leslie Jobson - Cortney Yee - Anna-Lisa Sandstrum - Julia Callahan - Joe Murphy - Emma Mundorff - Brittany Greenway |
| 2:25 PM - 3:15 PM |
SAN GABRIEL - Afternoon Author Showcase (adult/kids)
Moderated by BJ Hegedus (Postalworks, Los Angeles) Meet the authors: - Dashka Slater - Miriam Pawel - Carlyn Greenwald - Jonathan Vigliotti - Courtney Kocak - Bianca Schwarz - Elana K. Arnold - Max Brallier |
| 3:20 PM - 4:05 PM | SAN GABRIEL - Education Panel to Roundtable: Hiring + Onboarding, Performance and Retention A short introduction from panel about different stages of employee management to a breakout groups with panelists leading discussions for space to ask specific questions. |
| 3:20 PM - 4:05 PM | PASADENA 1 - Author Panel: AAPI Voices: Home, History and Belonging Featuring Samina Najmi, author of Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss and a Home in Time, Vanessa Hua, author of Coyoteland, D.K. Furutani, author of When Mikan Road Was Ours, and Keala Kendall, author of That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic. Moderated by Jhoanna Belfer (Bel Canto Books). |
| 4:10 PM - 5:00 PM |
SAN GABRIEL - Evening Author Showcase (adult/kids)
Meet the authors: - Kathleen Kaufman - Thomas Elrod - Susan Lee - Kaira Rouda - Pam Troy - Carly Kremer - Christina Diaz Gonzalez - Susie Yi - Sarah Langan |
| 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM | SAN GABRIEL - Mix & Mingle Enjoy small bites while chatting with fellow booksellers and the authors from the Reception. |
Download Agenda
Education Session Resources
Click on the Reps' Names Below to Access Their Lists
- Kristin Rasmussen, Scholastic Press
- Shannon Grant, Simon & Schuster
- Tom Benton, Penguin Random House
- Nicole White, Penguin Random House
- Kalani Kapahua and Suzi Hough, HarperCollins
- Vicki DeArmon, Sibylline Press
- Dave Ehrlich, Chronicle Books
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Chronicle show special:
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Promo Code: BL2026
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Order 50+ backlist units for an extra +3% discount and NET 90 dating
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Valid Dates: 5/28/26-6/4/26
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Can be used more than once, cannot be combined with any other offer
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Valid on all Chronicle Books and distribution publishers’ titles published prior to 3/1/26. Paperblanks product is not eligible for this special.
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- Leslie Jobson, Ingram Content Group
- Cortney Yee and Anna-Lisa Sandstrum, Sourcebooks
- Julia Callahan, Hachette Book Group
- Joe Murphy, W. W. Norton & Company
- Emma Mundorff, Stanford University Press
- Brittany Greenway, Macmillan
Morning Keynote
- Chloe Benjamin, Under Story (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Author Panel: The Stories We Inherit & Rewrite
- Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams, An Expanse of Blue (Heartdrum)
- Sara Hashem, Where No Shadow Stays (Holiday House)
- Chelsea Ichaso, Beware the Abbott Boys (Sourcebooks Fire)
Author Panel: So You're Ready for a Quest...
- Alexandra Bracken, Immortal Rose (Avon)
- Taylor J. LaRue, Steelborn (Requited)
- Linda H. Codega, Pasha the Storm (Erewhon Books)
Afternoon Author Showcase
- Dashka Slater, The Wild Season (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
- Miriam Pawel, California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California (Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Carlyn Greenwald, What Happened to Those Girls (Sourcebooks Fire)
- Jonathan Vigliotti, Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A. (Atria/One Signal Publishers)
- Courtney Kocak, Girl Gone Wild (Trio House Press)
- Bianca M. Schwartz, The Missing Baroness (Central Avenue)
- Elana K. Arnold, Holloway (Clarion Books)
- Max Brallier, The Dark and Other Scary Stories (Scholastic Inc.)
Author Panel: AAPI Voices - Home, History and Belonging
- Samina Najmi, Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time (Trio House Press)
- Vanessa Hua, Coyoteland (Flatiron Books)
- D.K. Furutani, When Mikan Road Was Ours (Atria Books)
- Keala Kendall, That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Evening Author Showcase
- Kathleen Kaufman, Beyond the Graves Waits Mist and Sea (Kensington)
- Thomas Elrod, The Franchise (Tor Books)
- Susan Lee, See You at the Sunset (MIRA)
- Kaira Rouda, We Were Never Friends (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Pam Troy, The Newcomers: The Chronicles of Touperdu, Book 1 (Sibylline Press)
- Carly Kremer, Little Bee and the Bloom (Tiny Torch Books)
- Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Offside: A Graphic Novel (Graphix)
- Susie Yi, Cat & Cat Adventures: Realms Collide (HarperAlley)
- Sarah Langan, Trad Wife (Atria Books)
Thank you for participating in CALIBA's Spring Forum on May 28th, 2026!
We hope you had a fun and educational experience.
Your feedback is valuable to our team, allowing us to improve future CALIBA events.
Complete our Spring Forum Evaluation
We know that travel is costly, so CALIBA is offering reimbursements for booksellers that traveled to the show! You can request reimbursements for travel, hotel, and parking through the link below.
