“The Monkey Tree” by Michele Heeney is displayed at the 2024 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference
The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all.
More than 13,500 attendees gathered in San Diego, CA, for the largest library event in the world. The ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition took place at the San Diego Convention Center from June 28 to July 2. Total attendance was 13,532, with 8,439 of them being attendees and 5,093 being exhibitors, authors, illustrators, press, and staff.
Against a backdrop of increasing censorship and book challenges, library workers learned from each other and supported each other through the 175 educational programs throughout the conference.
The conference opened with Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning host Trevor Noah and ALA Past President Lessa Kanani’opua Peyalo-Lozada in conversation discussing Noah’s upcoming book, “Into the Uncut Grass.”
ALA and Unite Against Book Bans hosted a second Rally for the Right to Read, which spotlighted the courage and resilience of library workers who are protecting the freedom to read.
ALA is now preparing for LibLearnX 2025, which will be held Jan. 24-27 in Phoenix. Next year’s ALA Annual will take place in Philadelphia.
For more information, visit www.ala.org.
Author Reputation Press’ published book, written by Michele Heeney, was displayed at the 2024 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference from June 28 to July 2. The publisher and author of the book are honored and proud to be part of this annual conference.
In partnership with Author Reputation Press, Michele Heeney, author of “The Monkey Tree,” held a successful book signing event during the 2024 Los Angeles Festival of Books (LATFOB) at the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times held its much-awaited annual Festival of Books on April 20–21, 2024. The LATFOB is considered to be one of the world’s most significant literary gatherings. It has been held every year since 1996 with the goal of bringing together the people who create books and the people who love to read them. It is attended by more than 550 authors, celebrities, storytellers, and hundreds of exhibitors.
Also, the same book was displayed at the 2024 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (LATFOB)—Book Gallery. The Los Angeles Times is the country’s biggest metropolitan daily newspaper, with more than 40 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly, a Sunday print readership of 1.6 million, and a combined print and online local weekly viewership of 4.4 million. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times has been covering Southern California for more than 140 years.
“The Monkey Tree” is a compilation of Michele’s poems throughout the years. It portrays different themes of Michele’s life, such as love, suffering, and loss. This masterpiece also tells a lot about Buddhism, which Michele studied for years in California and helped her with a lot of her personal problems.
In Heeney’s exploration of emotion, humor, grief, reflection, anger, and curiosity access the extraordinary and mundane—the monkey on everyone’s back. Buddhist philosophy is reflected in the diverse viewpoints and bemused detachment that temper the primacy of the human ego. This short work involves the reader both as an observer and participant.
This masterpiece is Michele Heeney’s third book of poems and photographs. Michele has lived in Marin and Monterey counties, California, and Maui, Hawaii. Michele now lives and writes in New Mexico. Her house is on the Cochiti reservation, just south of Santa Fe, in the little town of Cochiti Lake.
Get to know more about the author and the work as you listen to the full interview below:
