Main Conference Day 1
Friday 20 March 2026

Keynote: Maria van Lieshout

Maria is a Dutch-American illustrator and graphic novelist. Her historical graphic novel Song of a Blackbird was Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and is a 2026 Michael L. Printz Honor Book among many other accolades.

Michael L. Printz Award Honor
National Book Award Longlist
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award (x2)
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Award
ALSC Notable Children’s Book
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard
Publisher’s Weekly Best Young Adult Books
Kirkus Best Young Adult Books
The Horn Book Fanfare Best Fiction
School Library Journal Best Graphic Novels
Chicago Public Library Best Teen Graphic Novels
The Children’s Book Review Best YA Books
International Literacy Association Notable Book for a Global Society
Common Sense Media Teen Selection

Day 1 Schedule

7:45 – 8:30 – 🎉 *Registration opens! Coffee and tea, sponsor exhibits open – ISA Main Entrance and Upper School Library

*Please be aware that this is also the arrival time of students and parents and allow for extra time.

8:30 – 9:00 – Welcome from ISA Libraries and housekeeping – Upper School Library

9:00 – 9:45 – Keynote by 2026 Printz Honor award-winning author Maria van Lieshout – Upper School Library

9:45 – 10:30 – Book signing with Maria van Lieshout sponsored by Every Page Counts, coffee break with pastries, sponsor visits, pop-up bookshops open – Upper School Library

10:30 – 12:30 – Morning presentations – Upper School Library

10:30 – 11:00 – Staci Fox, American School of London (United Kingdom) – “Turning Pages, Building Bridges: The Power of Family Book Clubs”
11:00 – 11:30 – Lauren Boop and Eileen Kless, Carlucci International School of Lisbon (Portugal) – “Maximizing Expert Resources and Author Visits Across the EC – 12 Community”
11:30 – 12:00 – Johanna Schooley, Oakhouse School (Spain) – “Turning the Page: Reigniting Student Engagement with Reading”
12:00 – 12:30 – Katie Day, Tanglin Trust School (Singapore) and Nadine Bailey, American School of Dubai (UAE)  – “Booklists, Who Needs Them?”

12:30 – 13:30 – Lunch catered by the International School of Amsterdam & Laura Figurski, OverDrive – “Sora Consortiums: Best Practices” – CDLT 1 & CDLT 2

13:30 – 15:30 – Afternoon presentations – Upper School Library

13:30 – 14:00 – Michelle Andis, International School of Florence (Italy) – “Creative Approaches to Wellness Developed and Delivered by Your School Librarian”
14:00 – 14:30 – Kate Adams, International Sharing School Taguspark (Portugal) – “Creating a Dynamic Student Librarian Program”
14:30 – 15:00 – Farin Mendis, International School of Prague (Czech Republic) – “Creating a Human Library that Works for an International School”
15:00 – 15:30 – Ali Kennedy, TASIS The American School in England (United Kingdom) – “Underused to Unmissable: Repositioning the Library as a Dynamic Learning Space for the Whole Community”

15:30 – 16:00 – Coffee and tea break with Dutch stroopwafels, sponsor visits, and pop-up bookshops – Upper School Library

16:00 – 17:00  – ISA library tours hosted by Helle Kirstein, Nathalie Morrissey, and Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Early Childhood, Lower School and Upper School Libraries

17:00 – 18:00 – Sponsor Showcase Borrel sponsored by PowerNotes , pop-up bookshops open – Upper School Library

18:00 – 19:30 – *Indonesian Rijsttafel dinner sponsored by Sora – George Jr’s

*What is an Indonesian Rijsttafel? Learn more via the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s Folklife Magazine article “What Is Rijsttafel? A Dish to Bridge Dutch and Indonesian Identities” by Gwenna Claproth

19:45 – Conference ends for Day 1

Main Conference Day 2
Saturday 21 March 2026

Day 2 Schedule

8:00 – 8:30 – Arrive at ISA, coffee and tea, sponsor visits, pop-up bookshops – Upper School Library

8:30 – 10:30 – Library program break-out presentations & slams – Lower School and Upper School Libraries

Early Childhood and Lower School Library

8:30 – 8:45 – Astrid Krediet, St. Catherine’s British School (Greece) – “How to Run a Parent Book Club”
8:45 – 9:15 – Alicia Baine, British School of Brussels (Belgium) – “Loose Parts in the Library”
9:15 – 9:45 – Rebecca Battistoni, Istanbul International Community School (Turkey) – “Book Connections and Collaborations”
9:45 – 10:05  – Helle Kirstein, International School of Amsterdam (Netherlands) – “Crowdsourcing and a Call to Action: Multilingual Collection Development for International Schools”
10:05 – 10:25 – Nathalie Morrissey, International School of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Yaroslava Chernusenko, VOX Books – “Beat the Screen: Combined Print and Audio Solutions for Young Readers” – hands-on session

Upper School Library

8:30 – 9:00 – Mary Lawson, International School of Amsterdam (Netherlands) – “Supporting Academic Integrity and Research Skills in the Age of AI”
9:00 – 9:30 – Annie Harris, International Community School Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) – “Ignite the Page: Building a Reading Culture from Elementary to Middle School”
9:30 – 9:45 – Astrid Krediet, St. Catherine’s British School (Greece) – “Genrefy on the Fly”
9:45 – 10:15 – Heather Caveney, American Collegiate Institute (Turkey) – “The Quandary of Navigating AI Ethics, Cognitive Debt, and the Future of Independent Thinking”
10:15 – 10:30 – Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam (Netherlands) – “Case Study Syria: DP Global Studies Source Evaluation Activity”

10:30 – 11:00 – Coffee break with pastries, sponsor visits, pop-up bookshops – Upper School Library

11:00 – 13:00 – Hands on workshops – Upper School Library and CDLT 1

11:00 – 11:55 – Group 1 – Aaron Tyo-Dickerson “Librarians Are Magic”- CDLT 1
11:00 – 11:55 – Group 2 – Brenda “Designing a Research Process Students Can’t Skip” – Upper School Library

11:55 – 12:00 – Switch workshops

12:00 – 13:00 – Group 2 – Aaron Tyo-Dickerson “Librarians Are Magic” – CDLT1Group 1 – Brenda “Designing a Research Process Students Can’t Skip”- Upper School Library

13:00 – 13:45 – Lunch – sandwiches, salads, and dessert sponsored by MagicSchool & catered by Small World Catering – CDLT 1

13:45 – 14:00 – Farewell, thanks, and see you next year at ISLE!

With thanks to our Gold sponsors: