For immediate release | June 7, 2011

91´«Ã½ announces Auditorium Speaker Series lineup

91´«Ã½

Featured speakers include Jeff Kinney, Daniel Ellsberg, Jeff Jarvis

CHICAGO - The 91´«Ã½’s (91´«Ã½) Auditorium Speaker Series welcomes 12 distinguished speakers who are noted for their contributions as authors, journalists and national newsmakers. Speakers include best-selling children’s author Jeff Kinney “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”; former United States military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers”; and blogging pioneer and author Jeff Jarvis, “What Would Google Do?” The series is part of the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference, held June 23 – 28 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

On Saturday, June 25, best-selling author Jeff Kinney will speak from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. As one of Time magazine’s most influential people in the world, Kinney’s work has been widely credited for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books with his popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Since its first publication in 2007, more than 35 million books have been printed in the United States and sold in more than 30 countries around the world. The series has won a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award and has been a fixture on the USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and The New York Times best-seller lists.

From 8 – 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 26 a presentation titled “War and Secrecy” will be given by Daniel Ellsberg, the man the Nixon administration dubbed “the most dangerous man in America.” Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers. This is the 40th anniversary of Ellsberg’s going into hiding to avoid arrest by the FBI while disseminating the Pentagon Papers to the major news media.

On Monday, June 27, Jeff Jarvis, blogging pioneer and author of “What Would Google Do?,” will appear from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Currently Jarvis works as a blogger at Buzzmachine.com, associate professor and director at the City University New York’s Graduate School of Journalism, consulting editor and partner at Daylife, writer and Media Talk USA podcast host at the Guardian and consultant. Until 2005, he was president and creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications. Prior to that, Jarvis was creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner; and assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

Other speakers include: award-winning author C.J. Cherryh,“Tripoint”; The New York Times No. 1 best-selling and award-winning author Harlan Coben, Myron Bolitarseries; award-winning editor, radio host and author Brooke Gladstone,“The Influencing Machine”; The New York Times best-selling author J. A. Jance, J. P. Beaumont series; author, illustrator and filmmaker William Joyce,“George Shrinks,”Rolie Polie Olie series; best-selling mystery author Laura Lippman,Tess Monaghan series; The New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, “The Hero of Ages”; award-winning writer-producer David Simon,“Homicide,” “The Wire”; and author and professor Siva Vaidhyanathan,“Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity.”

The 91´«Ã½ is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 61,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

For more information on the 2011 Annual 91´«Ã½ Conference, please visit the 91´«Ã½ Conference website at , or contact 91´«Ã½ Media Relations Manager Macey Morales at (312) 280-4393, mmorales@ala.org, or 91´«Ã½ PR Coordinator Jennifer Petersen at (312) 280-5043,jpetersen@ala.org.

Contact:

Jennifer Petersen