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 Avenue
Pasadena , 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.

Join us as we kick off our SoCal Spring Forum at Vroman's and The 1894 wine bar on
May 27th from 7-8:30pm. Grab a glass of wine, chat with fellow booksellers and Reps,
and browse Vroman's!

Vroman's Bookstore

695 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA

May 27th, 7-8:30pm

To stay within code, we will max out RSVPs at 35!

RSVP NOW

Owners' Retreat Agenda

New this year, CALIBA is hosting a day of Owner-specific education. Registration for the event is limited to 35 people. Have an idea for a topic, e-mail Hannah at hannah@caliballiance.org.

Spring Forum Agenda

Join your fellow booksellers for a day of peer-to-peer education, author panels and showcases, and Rep Pick sessions!

Breakfast, lunch, and reception bites are included with your ticket.

Tickets are only available for Bookstore Members.

Click on the Reps' Names Below to Access Their Lists

Rep Picks Lunch:

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
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)

For our group rate, book a room at the Pasadena Hilton via this link by April 27th.

Address: 168 South Los Robles, Pasadena, CA 91101

If you are interested in carpooling, fill out this Carpool form. Already filled out the form and want to find a carpool buddy? Click here to access the carpool buddy list.

If you're coming from outside of Pasadena, we recommend flying into the Burbank Airport.

Since you're coming all this way, you might as well explore our host city!

Local Bookstores:

Local Restaurants:

Local Attractions:

For More Information:

Hannah Walcher

Executive Director (415)561-7686x101

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