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Hamish Brewer, better known as "the relentless, tattooed, skateboarding principal" will be our keynote speaker. He has over 20 years experience serving as a classroom teacher, administrator, international education director, and consultant. The New Zealand native was named a 2017 National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Hamish's innovative approach and extensive background in literacy fuels his work on motivation, best practices, and the implementation and use of technology in schools, which he details in his first book, Relentless: Changing Lives by Disrupting Educational Norms (May 2019).

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​Sonja Cherry-Paul, Ed.D., has taught middle school English for twenty years. She is a literacy consultant who served on the Jane Addams Children's Book Award committee for ten years. Sonja leads presentations about literacy at national conferences and provides professional development for educators on reading and writing instruction and racial literacy. She is the co-author, with Dana Johansen, of the books Teaching Interpretation and Flip Your Writing Workshop. In May of 2019, she and Johansen published Breathing New Life Into Book Clubs.

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M. Colleen Cruz was a classroom teacher in general education and inclusive settings before joint the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project where she is director of innovation. Colleen supports schools, teachers, and their students nationally and internationally as a literacy consultant. She is the author of Writers Read Better: Narrative, Writers Read Better: Nonfiction, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, Independent Writing, and A Quick Guide to Helping Struggling Writers. She is also the author of a young adult novel Border Crossing.

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Alan Gratz is the award winning author of a number of novels for young readers, including Refugee, Grenade, Code of Honor, Prisoner B-3087,  and Projekt 1065. His books have been named American Library Associations Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Readers, ALA's Top Ten Sports Books for Youth and Top Ten Historical Books for Youth, and YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Reluctant Readers. Alan's 2017 best-selling novel Refugee was the Global Read Aloud Book for 2018.

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