Subject to last minute chantes, our conference schedule is as
follows:
Wednesday, November 20, 2002.
6:00pm - 7:00pm. Book Reviewer Committees will meet to finalize
their selections for the 2002 Best Book Awards List. We will meet in
the conference room where sandwiches and light refreshments will be
provided. Our reviewers are reminded to please bring five books to
donate.
Thursday, November 21, 2002:
8:00am - 9:00am. Registration in the Southgate Tower Hotel
lobby.
9:00am. We will board a school bus for a journey back in time to
Manhattan's Lower East Side Tenement Museum. The Lower East Side was
the area where thousands of immigrants to the United States first
settled in the middle and late Nineteenth Century. In a partially
restored tenement building at 97 Orchard Street, we will visit
several apartments of such families and learn their stories.
Lunch will be another special treat as we will eat at the famous
Katz's Del (remember that famous scene from the movie, "When Harry
Met Sally?"). You will order and pay for your own selections.
After lunch, we will re-board our bus for a ride to Harlem and a tour
of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. During our
tour we hope to meet with one of the curators of this branch of the New
York Public Library.
The cost of the bus and any entrance fees for this day are included
in your conference fee.
Dinner tonight will be at a typical New York Restaurant. Do not let
the name fool you--Dallas Bar-B-Que is really a New York restaurant.
It is noisy, crowded, reasonably priced and the food is terrific.
Great chicken and ribs and giant drinks.
Friday, November 22, 2002.
8:00am-9:00am Conference registration.
9:00am. We will take a special tour of the Humanities and Social
Sciences branch of the New York Public Library. As part of our tour we
will visit the newly restored and magnificent main reading room.
Lunch is on your own, but eat fast because our afternoon program begins
at 1:00pm in the Southgate Tower Hotel Conference Room. The afternoon
program includes:
Rona Roth. Ms. Roth is a retired Kindergarten teacher who
initiated the "One More Story" program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center where she and five other volunteers read to patients from
ages 2 to 10.
Vared Hankin. Ms. Hankin is an author, storyteller and actress.
Her publications include On the Fringes: An Anthology of Jewish
Women's Writings.
Judy Finchler. Mrs. Finchler is a teacher, school librarian and
author of the Miss Malarkey series of books which began with Miss
Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10.
Dinner tonight is at El Quijote, a Spanish restaurant specializing in
lobsters, steaks and paella. The food is plentiful, the sangria is
refreshing and the prices are moderate.
Saturday, November 23, 2002.
Saturday morning's presenters are:
Teri Gindi. Ms. Gindi is a storyteller whose tales are performed
with movement, music and audience participation. She also conducts
workshops in pantomime, improvisation and creative dramatics.
Dr. Lorenzo Pace. Dr. Pace is an author, illustrator, artist and
sculptor. He is the author of Jolani and the Lock, inspired by a
lock once used to enslave one of his own ancestors. A sculpture done of
that lock by Dr. Pace stands in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.
Our conference will end with the annual SSLI membership meeting.