Last Thursday I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the 5th Annual Teen Librarian Summit in Worcester, MA. (And I was so nervous, you guys, you don’t even know.)

The focus of the summit was the STEM to STEAM movement—or bringing Arts education into the national curricula, which currently focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

My presentation was all about the amazing things that can happen when science, technology, and art all work together. First, I gave examples of how art, books, and popular culture have influenced the real world of science and technology, and then I gave examples of how science, technology, and even math have influenced some of today’s popular teen fiction.

(Thanks to Kara, @tardisgrl, and Amy, @amydieg, for the photos!)

You can watch the Powerpoint and listen to the presentation here: https://vimeo.com/77221730

If you would like to skip ahead, here are some presentation highlights:

4:28: Star Trek, astronauts, and Star Trek-inspired technology

15:53: Harry Potter and invisibility cloaks

18:17: CSI and the growing field of forensic science

21:54: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

25:00: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

27:45: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

29:53: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

33:18: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (though for some reason part of the speech got cut out here, so it feels a little disjointed)

34:26: Cinder by me

38:45: Applause (my favorite part, ha!)

There’s about 20 minutes of Q&A at the end, where I discuss research, whether or not I know how the books will end, NaNoWriMo, writing advice, and other such stuff.