NHBF Author: David Elliott

David Elliott is the award-winning author of over thirty-five picture books and novels for young people, including The New York Times bestselling And Here’s to You!. He is also the author of three critically acclaimed YA verse novels: Bull; Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc; and The Seventh Raven as well as such picture books as Finn Throws a Fit and Baabwa and Wooliam. He is a two-time winner of the Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry Book of the Year. His most recent book, Bonebag, co-written with his son, Eli, received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus. His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages. David was a founding member of Lesley University’s Low Residence Master of Arts Program in Creative Writing where he taught for twenty years. Before becoming a writer, David worked as a cucumber washer in Greece, a popsicle stick maker in Israel, a teacher in Libya, and a singer in Mexico. Currently, David lives in New Hampshire with his wife.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

2026 Ladybug Voting Guide

The 2026 Ladybug Picture Book Award Voting Guide is now available. 

The guide includes information and activities for each nominated title and is a printable pdf.

New Hampshire children, from preschool to fourth grade, will select the winning picture book when they vote in November 2026. 

The deadline for sending in votes is Sunday, December 20, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

Voting materials, including ballots and a link to the online tally sheet, are available on the Ladybug web page.

NHBF Author: Maggie Dietz

Maggie Dietz’s third book of poems, If You Would Let Me, was published by Four Way books in March 2026. Her previous collections, both from the University of Chicago, are That Kind of Happy and Perennial Fall, which won New Hampshire's Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book of Poetry and a Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award for Outstanding Achievement. Dietz was founding director of the Favorite Poem Project, created by former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, and is co-editor of three anthologies related to the project: Americans’ Favorite Poems, Poems to Read, and An Invitation to Poetry (all W.W. Norton). From 2004-2012, she was assistant poetry editor at Slate. Her awards include a Pushcart Prize, the Grolier Poetry Prize, the George Bennett Fellowship at Phillips Exeter Academy, as well as fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, the NH State Council on the Arts, and Jentel Arts. Her work has appeared in AGNI, The Adroit Journal, Bennington Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Salmagundi, The Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. She is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026. 

Book of the Week (8/31/2026)

Passionate Teaching in Troubled Times: A Practical Guide by Robert L. Fried (Beacon Press, 2026)

Every teacher can be a passionate teacher—one who engages young people in the excitement of learning and ideas—if teaching is not undermined by the ways we "do business" in schools. In this book, a professor draws on the voices and firsthand accounts of teachers in urban, rural, and suburban classrooms to provide educators everywhere with useful advice and ‘things to try'. Their successes will inspire you to grow and maintain your own passion for teaching in the face of day-to-day obstacles.

This edition of The Passionate Teacher also includes a new chapter for teachers beginning their careers.-- Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Rob Fried, Concord resident since 1976, is an author of several books on effective teaching and education reform.  He was a professor of education at Northeastern University and headed the Upper Valley Educators Institute in Lebanon, NH.  His books include: "The Passionate Teacher" (now revised and expanded as "Passionate Teaching in Troubled Times"; "The Passionate Learner," and "The Game of School." Fried has interviewed several local educators for his books, as well as nationally known leaders of education reform. He served on the Concord School Board and wrote columns for the Concord Monitor. He is married to Patricia Wilczynski.

Join Rob at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., September 10, 2026 at 6:30 pm where he will discuss his book.

NHBF Author: Christine Hartman Derr

Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her short fiction is included in Just YA as well as in the Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology Legendary Frybread Drive-In. Her debut picture book, Until We Meet Again: Donadagohvi and debut novel, Raven, Rising, are forthcoming from Heartdrum/HarperCollins Children’s. Further work can be found on Indigenous Reads Rising, Booklist, and in the Bank Street College of Education Occasional Paper Series. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in East Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets with themed names.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026. 

NHBF Author: Julie Carrick Dalton

Julie Carrick Dalton is the author of The Forest Becomes Her, The Last Beekeeper, and Waiting for the Night Song. She is the winner of the New Hampshire Book Awards' People's Choice for Best Novel, and was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature, and the ASLE Book Award. Her novels have been named to Most Anticipated lists from CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, Parade, and others, and were selected as an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Book of the Month. A former organic farmer, forest manager, and beekeeper, and a 2026 TEDx speaker, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of fiction in the age of climate crisis at universities, museums, and conferences, nationally and internationally. She currently serves on the teaching faculty of Drexel University's Creative Writing MFA program and is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard. When she isn't reading or writing, you can probably find Julie kayaking, skiing, swimming, gardening, or trying to track down her four children and two dogs.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026. 

NHBF Author: Lynette D'Amico

Lynette D'Amico is an essayist and fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Ocean State Review, and at Brevity, Slag Glass City, Short Reads, and Guernica. Her novella Road Trip was short-listed for the Paris Literary Prize. Her memoir in essays Men I Hate, won the Gournay Nonfiction Prize and was published by Mad Creek Books in 2026. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center. She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She makes her home in Rhode Island with the writer P. Carl.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.