Yoo had a wonderful whirlwind time in the “City of Brotherly Love” at this year’s 2025 ALA (American Library Association) conference held in Philadelphia! I had a book signing and also gave an acceptance speech for the 2025 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award for my book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE (Norton Young Readers 2025).

Below are highlights from my June 27-July 7, 2025 trip to attend the ALA conference in Philly and to see family in my home state of Connecticut.

(NOTE: As always, please click on all the highlighted words for related links throughout this blog.)

PHILLY PAULA

I arrived on Friday June 27. I explored the city and met some friends for dinner in Philly Chinatown. I met University of Pennsylvania Professor Murali Balaji, whose classes I have spoken to in the past, along with New York Public Library‘s Michelle Lee (where I recently did a Zoom presentation), and longtime bestie and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni friend Lori Miller Rosenbaum and her husband Keith. (Yay to our Class of 1992!) Thank you Banana Leaf and your delicious Malaysian tea and yummy Hainanese chicken rice!

I then walked with Norton Young Readers editor Kristin Allard from our hotel to the beautiful Free Library of Philadelphia to attend the 2025 Michael L. Printz Award ceremony.

Coincidentally, on the night of the Printz Award ceremony, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled earlier that day that parents were allowed to withdraw their children for religious reasons from any K-12 public school classroom using LGBTQIA-themed books for lessons. The 6-3 decision pertained to a case in Maryland. For more information, here is an AP article about it: “What to know about the US Supreme Court’s ruling on public school lessons using LGBTQ books” by Rio Yamat (published June 27, 2025).

However, this news did not dim the joy at the Printz ceremony where several of the honorees were LGBTQIA authors and whose books celebrated universal stories featuring LGBTQIA characters and storylines for ALL young readers. Printz Honorees Safia Elhillo (BRIGHT RED FRUIT, Random House 2024), Andrew Joseph White (COMPOUND FRACTURE, Peachtree 2024), Molly Knox Ostertag (THE DEEP DARK, Scholastic 2024), Rex Ogle (ROAD HOME, Norton Young Readers 2024) and Printz winner Samuel Teer (author) and Mar Julia (artist) (BROWNSTONE, HarperCollins 2024) all gave deeply personal, moving, funny and smart with heart acceptance speeches that inspired everyone to continue fighting back against the disturbing spike in book bans and censorship in our public schools and libraries. (Please click on everyone’s names and book titles to see their websites and book info.)

The next day, I met my amazing literary agent TRICIA LAWRENCE for lunch at the famous Reading Terminal Market where Yoo got your Philly cheesetake fix at By George! Yum! I signed with Tricia in 2015 when she was with the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Aevitas Creative Management recently merged with EMLA, so I am now represented by Tricia at https://www.aevitascreative.com! For more info on this Aevitas/EMLA merge: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/97171-erin-murphy-literary-agents-join-aevitas.html

I then had my book signing for RISING FROM THE ASHES on Saturday June 28. My photo was featured in this week’s PUBLISHERS WEEKLY! Link: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/98168-children-s-books-at-ala-a-photo-essay.html

Yoo enjoyed a delicious “Family Dinner” with everyone at Norton Young Readers at the Continental Midtown restaurant! Our family members included Norton Library Marketing & Publicity’s Golda Rademacher and Naomi Duttweiler and my editor Simon Boughton and Kristin Allard and authors Rex Ogle and Michael G. Long, whose critically acclaimed debut YA nonfiction book, FIGHT AIDS! HOW ACTIVISM, ART, AND PROTEST CHANGED THE COURSE OF A DEADLY EPIDEMIC AND RESHAPED A NATION, debuted during June Pride Month 2025.

Although I was having fun, I also was having trouble sleeping due to the jet lag! Unfortunately on my second night in Philly, JUST as I was getting used to the time zone difference, the fire alarm went off in my hotel at 3:30 AM!

Safety first! So I calmly walked down five flights of stairs along with the other hotel occupants. We waited outside for over an hour until the firefighters determined it was a false alarm. Author Rex Ogle and my editor Simon Boughton from Norton Young Readers were also in my hotel. Rex and I had to walk back up several flights of stairs at 4:30 AM and we both had book events to speak at in the next few hours. We didn’t get much sleep, obviously, but WE LOOKED GOOD! haha! Some photos below to document the excitement!

Despite the lack of sleep due to the false fire alarm, Yoo managed to deliver an acceptance speech at the YALSA ceremony later that morning!

Congratulations again to all the amazing authors who were also finalists for the 2025 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award: Elizabeth Rusch for “A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Soccer—and Beyond” (Greenwillow Books 2024); Theo Parish for “Homebody” (HarperAlley 2024); Candy J. Cooper for “Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away” (Calkins Creek 2024); and Angela Shanté for “The Unboxing of a Black Girl” (Page Street Publishing 2024). Press release link here: https://www.ala.org/news/2024/12/yalsa-announces-2025-excellence-nonfiction-young-adults-award-finalists

During my time at the ALA conference, I met many awesome author friends and librarians! Here are some photos below of our #ReYOOnions!

CRUSHING IT IN CONNECTICUT

After ALA, Yoo took a side trip to visit family and friends in Connecticut, where I grew up. Of course Yoo had to have my traditional CT faves… the lobster roll (hot drawn butter only, Connecticut O.G. style) at RED 36 in Mystic… my Italian grinder at neighborhood hangout Claudia’s Grinder Shop… mini golf and “dirty water” ice cream family tradition at Farmington Miniature Golf and Ice Cream Parlor… and enjoying time with family and friends! (Okay and also my traditional “packie runs” at Bottle Shop of Unionville & Highlands Package Store.

While in Connecticut, Yoo finally had a chance to visit MOROMI, the artisanal gourmet specialty Japanese shoyu shop created by BOB FLORENCE and his wife and my author friend DEBBIE MICHIKO FLORENCE. “Moromi was founded by Bob Florence, James Wayman, and Debbi Michiko Florence, who teamed up to create handcrafted soy sauces, miso, and hot sauces based on traditional fermentation techniques using koji and our natural microbiome to transform a variety of local ingredients into unique sauces, seasonings, and condiments. At Moromi, we’re dedicated to developing unique and flavorful food ingredients that help home and professional cooks create distinctive meals for their families and guests. Mystic Koji, LLC is based in beautiful, coastal southeastern Connecticut.” Go here to find out more about their delicious soy sauce and hot sauce offerings! I order from their store all the time! https://moromishoyu.com

Bob Florence, who worked as a chemist for major auto industrial companies and often flew to Japan for business, developed a passion for learning how to create Japanese-styled shoyu (soy sauce). Along with his wife and author Debbi Michiko Florence and Chef/Managing Partner James Wayman (Nanas Bakery and Pizza, Grass and Bone and Moromi Shoyu), Bob’s company now produces acclaimed gourmet soy sauce for restaurants and stores. During our tour, Bob explained how the soybeans are harvested, fermented, and then pressed into their signature flavors.

Finally… so when I flew home from Connecticut, I had a connecting flight in Charlotte, NC. Unfortunately, my 6:50 PM flight from Charlotte to LAX was postponed until… 1 AM! Luckily, I met a really nice young person who invited me to be his guest at the American Airlines Admirals Club business lounge so I could rest comfortably for the next NINE HOURS. I have made many new friends from similar airport delay drama situations, so Yoo are grateful for his act of kindness. As a nation, we are #StrongerTogether!

A PURRFECT CONCLUSION

Finally, an update on our new cat ROCKY whom we adopted in March. I wrote about it here: https://paulayoo.com/yoo-are-on-the-road-the-new-normal/

As many of you know, we have three black and white cats – Oreo, Beethoven and Charlotte. You can follow Oreo here: https://x.com/oreothecatyoo Now we have FOUR black and white cats with Rocky!

Here is the latest pic of Rocky to let you all know that he’s having a PURRFECTLY fine time in the Yoo household!

Thank you for making it all the way to the end of one my longest blogs! And now it’s time for Yoo to enter the #AmWritingCatCave to work on my next book and TV projects! Until next time, as always, remember… WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! #WriteLikeYooMeanIt